ROME - An enormous explosion at a petrol station in Rieti has killed two people and injured 17. According to reports, a fuel tanker containing vast amounts of flammable liquid was offloading fuel when it caught fire. Witnesses claimed the explosion, which occurred less than half an hour after the initial blaze began, was akin to an earthquake.
Francesca Halliwell
ROME - A mass operation against the 'Ndrangheta mafia took place Wednesday, on an international scale. A total of 90 people with connections to the Calabrian mafia network were arrested across the globe, in countries ranging from Italy to Costa Rica. The first arrests took place in Locride, where the Pelle-Vottaris clan are believed to be at large.
5 Dec 2018
Francesca Halliwell
ROME - To mark the 15 year anniversary of America's Iraq invasion, a project illustrating the crippling impact the conflict has produced on women's lives has been launched by journalist Sara Manisera. Entitled ‘Donne fuori dal buio’, it consists of four powerful documentary videos that relay the struggles encountered by four different women in the war-torn country. EGIC held a screening of the documentaries and a discussion with Sara Manisera on Tuesday, followed by a short question-and-answer session.
5 Dec 2018
Francesca Halliwell
ROME - The opening peformance of Teatro Carlo Felice’s winter season was nothing short of spectacular, as 15 asylum seekers took to the stage to perform Giuseppe Verdi’s acclaimed opera, Aida. Directed by Alfonso Antoniozzi, the production fused the cultures of traditional Italian opera and modern cinema to magnificent effect. Applause rang out as performers took their bows in front of the sold-out Genovese audience.
4 Dec 2018
Gianfranco Nitti
ROME - Absolute poverty in 2017 is almost as high in the South of Italy as it is in Romania, the European country that holds this sad record. This was stated by the director of SVIMEZ (Associazione per lo sviluppo dell'industria nel Mezzogiorno) Luca Bianchi, speaking at the Foreign Press Association in Italy in a meeting with foreign media correspondents.
4 Dec 2018
INSIDER NEWSDESK
PALERMO – The suspected new head of the Cosa Nostra was arrested on Tuesday morning in a string of Sicilian Mafia arrests, police sources report.
Settimino Mineo, 80, was taken into custody alongside 45 other suspected members of Cosa Nostra as a result of the investigation carried out by Palermo state prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi. Each suspect is reportedly accused of mafia association and aggravated extortion.
4 Dec 2018
Patrick Middleton
ROME – Luka Modric has been crowned 2018 Ballon d'Or winner as Juventus striker and five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo had to settle for second behind his former Real Madrid teammate.
Modric won a third successive Champions League title alongside Juve’s record signing in May, before captaining his country to a World Cup final in Russia in the summer, where Croatia lost out to France in a six-goal thriller. The midfielder’s performances at the tournament won him the Golden Ball, the award for the best player at the World Cup.
4 Dec 2018
Francesca Halliwell
ROME - The Christmas tree chosen to adorn Rome’s Piazza Venezia has sparked controversy for a second-year running. It has been named ‘Spelacchio’, as last year's tree was. The name translates as bald and is perhaps fitting given its somewhat damaged branches.
3 Dec 2018
Francesca Halliwell
ROME – Developments in the quest to find the Monster of Florence have been few and far between for some time. Yet over thirty-three years after the killer committed his final homicide, evidence has emerged that could reveal his true identity.
A bullet has been found in the cushion of French couple Nadine Mauriot and Jean Michel Kraveichvili, who were murdered in 1985. It dates from the year they were killed and has been given to a special consultant tasked with verifying whether it was shot from a Beretta cal. 22 or another gun.
3 Dec 2018