GENEVA - Migrants crossing from Libya to Italy are more at risk than ever warns the UNHCR after the Aquarius has been confined to port following first Gibraltar and then Panama removing their flags from the rescue ship.
The warning came as 58 migrants finally disembarked from the Aquarius in Malta on Sep. 30, where they will be redistributed among four other countries – France, Germany, Portugal and Spain.
ROME - Five Star militants were celebrating Friday after the populist government approved a budget deficit at 2.4 per cent of GDP, designed to “abolish poverty.”
An agreement was reached shortly after 9 p.m. following a long afternoon of deadlock between the coalition government and Economy Minister Giovanni Tria.
Mr Tria had tried for days to limit the deficit to 1.6 per cent of GDP, in line with EU demands that Italy rein in its high debt.
ROME – Italy’s Five Star Movement has threatened to abolish the country’s Order of Journalists following conflict between the populist party and the press, official sources said on Thursday.
A recording of government spokesman Rocco Casalino threatening vendetta if Treasury fails to find funds for key policies was leaked to the press on Monday.
ROME – Forty-three Italian institutions have been included in the 2019 World University Rankings published by the Times Higher Education, official sources said on Thursday.
Three Italian universities have been included in the top 200 – “Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna”, “Scuola Normale di Pisa” and new entry University of Bologna. Generally, the Italian trend is positive with significant improvement compared to previous years. But experts are concerned that the change in political climate in Europe may have a detrimental impact on higher education.
TURIN – It was a frustrating opening to the Final Six group stage for the Italian volleyball team on Wednesday.
Against a very strong Serbian line-up, the Azzurri could not grab a foothold in the game, getting off to a poor start by losing the first set 25-15.
Despite drawing closer in the second, it never looked like they would convert their improved performance into a point on the board, as Serbia took the set 25-20, before easing to a 3-0 victory.
RIMINI – Maurizio Zanfanti, famous as the playboy of the Rimini Riviera, last night died after a sexual encounter with an escort, police sources said on Thursday.
The 63-year-old, also known as Zanza, had sought the company of a young friend, a 23-year-old escort. After engaging in sex, he felt sick, losing his strength and finally his life.
The woman immediately dialled 118 but when the ambulance and State Police arrived, they were unable to revive him or determine the cause of death.
TARANTO - An interesting exhibition in Taranto by Katundo, opening Sept. 15, 2018 in an unusual location – the Cloister of the former SS hospital.
‘When art means suffering’ is an exhibition of pictorial works by Katundo, aka Vincenzo Leone, painter and cardiologist, born in San Marzano di San Giuseppe in 1948, and a doctor for many years in Taranto in the National Health Service.
ROME – Gambling giant Sisal is suing the Italian government over allegedly favouring a close competitor, a discussion at the Regional Administrative Tribunal heard on Wednesday.
Italian betting company Lottomatica is being accused of receiving favoured treatment by the 2016 Gentiloni government.
Last year the government renewed Lottamatica’s permits for another 9 years. A deal worth 800 million euros. Sisal, a rival betting giant, has accused the government of misconduct over tendering procedures, as a formal tender never took place.
ROME – Scores of Italian consultants have left the FAO after the UN agency told them that their contracts would not be extended beyond the end of October as part of a new policy by Director General José Graziano da Silva to dish out consultancies to national groups proportionate to their government’s donations, FAO sources say.
