ROME - Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, president of the Italian Bishops Conference, has warned the country of repeating “a dark page in the history of our country: the racial laws of 1938” due to the xenophobia and false promises from politicians in the lead up to the general election.
"We must react to a culture of fear that, even if in some cases understandable, can never turn into xenophobia or even evoke discourses on the race that we thought were permanently buried," continued the Cardinal.
ROME - Cardinal Sean O’Malley has heavily rebuked Pope Francis for his comments on sexual abuse. O’Malley’s intervention came after the pope dismissed accusations that Bishop Juan Barros had helped to cover up abuse in Chile, as “all calumny.”
Pope Francis underlined that there was “not one shred of proof against [Barros]. It’s all calumny. Is that clear?” Adding later that “the day they bring me proof against Bishop Barros, I’ll speak.”
The British Embassy in Rome is part of a world-wide network, representing British political, economic and consular interests overseas and is now looking for 3 temporary Executive Assistants to support the Embassy’s teams in delivering their objectives.
All three positions are based in Rome with one part time contract and two full time contracts. The positions are respectively in the Private Office, Political team and EU/Prosperity team.
ROME - The Giornale di Sicilia called for a film on their former journalist, Mario Francese, who was murdered by the mafia, to be blocked on Sunday night, calling the piece "coarsely false," but Mediaset went ahead with its broadcast on Channel Five.
Francese was a reporter for Il Giornale in the 1970s who began to uncover the changing role and hierarchy of the Cosa Nostra in Sicily. He was murdered outside his home in Jan 1979. The film is part of a fictional series called "Free Dreamers" based around real figures who opposed the mafia in Italy.
ROME - The charred and dismembered corpse of Giuseppe De Stefani, a 62 year old from Sondrio was found in Thailand.
The body was found in a forest in the province of Phichit, near to where the Italian national lived.
Police are searching for his estranged wife Rujira Eiumlamai, 38, a native of Thailand, and also a Frenchman presumed to be her lover. The spouses allegedly had been fighting over money
ROME - The winter break fell later than usual this year in Serie A, with Juventus trailing top-placed Napoli by a single point after the last round of fixtures on Jan 6. Poor results in recent weeks for both Inter and Roma have left them well adrift of the top spots. At the other end of the table, things look dire for Benevento, who have collected only seven points from 20 games.
ROME - In the largest anti-mafia sweep of in the region’s history, 56 members were arrested in Santa Elisabetta and Sciacca, Sicily.
The 56 arrested were members of 16 mafia families on charges ranging from drug trafficking, fraud, and extortion.
Francesco Fragapane, 37, former mayor of San Biagio and son of Salvatore Fragapane, a well known mafia boss in the region’s history, was arrested on charges of mafia association.
ROME - The National Federation of the Italian Press and the National Order of Journalists plan to protest outside the Court of Rome in Ostia in response to the Spada clan members Roberto Spada and Ruben Nelson Alvez del Puerto assaulting the journalist Daniele Piervincenzi and the cameraman Edoardo Anselmi after they attempted to interview them on Nov. 7.
The footage of Anselm’s camera of Spada head butting Piervincenzi before beating him with a pipe shocked the world. Italian authorities acted quickly and the actions were condemned by politicians across the country.
ROME – A senior World Food Programme executive responsible for the UN agency’s hunger-fighting operations in strife-torn Afghanistan has been suspended from duty in Kabul following an external investigation into sexual harassment allegations, UN sources say.
