ROME – Hoping to side-step a fourth Six Nations whitewash in just the last five years, Italy fell just short against Scotland as Greg Laidlaw kicked a 79th minute penalty for the visitors.
Italy started the game brightly with Tomasso Allen converting a penalty to open his account in a hugely impressive performance from the former Scotland U20 fly-half.
ROME – Prosecutor’s in Italy’s capital have opened an investigation into the death of Mariam Moustafa, an 18-year-old Egyptian student who died in the United Kingdom after being assaulted by a gang of women.
Moustafa was an engineering student at Nottingham College who was born in Rome. According to local police she was attacked and “punched several times” at a bus stop in the city, before being followed onto a bus by her attackers.
CASSINO – The authorities in Cassino were at the centre of controversy on Monday morning after the attempted unveiling of an incendiary war monument, which commemorates “all the fallen,” including German paratroopers who occupied the area, was blocked by protests and a significant social media backlash.
ROME – On a night which saw AC Milan crash out with a 3-1 loss to Arsenal, Lazio advanced to the last eight of the Europa League with a 4-2 aggregate victory over Dynamo Kiev. They will face German outfit, Red Bull Salzburg, whilst Roma host Barcelona and Juventus entertain a recently rejuvenated Real Madrid.
ROME – An NGO boat has come into conflict with the Libyan coastguard whilst salvaging migrants from a sinking rubber dinghy in the Mediterranean. The Libyan crew reportedly threatened to shoot at the Spanish rescue boat, demanding that the migrants aboard be taken back with them to Libya.
ROME – Italy’s politicians were marking the fortieth anniversary of the kidnapping of Aldo Moro by the Red Brigade in a ceremony in Rome on Friday morning, reflecting on the shocking and controversial events in March 1978.
Moro was one of Italy’s longest serving post-war Prime Ministers, with stints at the helm of the nation from 1963 to 1968 and from 1974 to 1976.
He is chiefly remembered in Italy as the instigator of the accord between his party, the Christian Democrats, and the Italian Communist Party, known as the “Historic Compromise.”
ROME – The UNAids director, Michel Sidibé, was under significant fire on Friday with a barrage of criticism being levelled at him following his alleged comments on sexual harassment at a staff meeting, that were leaked to the world’s media on Wednesday.
VIENNA – European development and commercial Italian banks are threatening the pristine rivers of south-eastern Europe with “reckless” investment in a vast array of hydroelectric projects, according to a study by CEE Bankwatch Network released on Friday.
ROME – Several Mafia-branded products have been put at risk after the European Court of Justice rejected a Spanish food company’s use of their “La Mafia Se Sienta a la Mesa”(The Mafia sit down at the table) logo. The restaurant chain had appealed the decision of the ECJ, highlighting the importance of the word “Mafia” in their business, but the Court’s ruling cited the risks of positively promoting criminal organisations.
