ROME -- As the world belatedly turns its attention to the pressing issues of environmental degradation, resource scarcity and climate change, the concept of sustainability takes its rightful place at centre stage in discussions at the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) which kick off Wednesday. High profile speakers at the jamouree will include Bill Gates and Rwanda president Paul Kagame.
Anonymous
By INSIDER REPORTERS
ROME -- Navy officers aboard an Italian merchant vessel opened fire off the south coast of India killing two Indian fisherman, mistaken for pirates.
The navy said in a statement that “the attitude of the vessel was judged clearly hostile, typical of pirates,” and that the crew followed international protocols.
16 Feb 2012
SOPHIE INGE
ROME -- It’s a cold Sunday night in early February, one of the busiest nights of the year for Rome’s Salvation Army, known in Italy as the Esercito della Salvezza.
16 Feb 2012
ALYX BARKER
ROME -- The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of euros in damages to a senior executive who was wrongly dismissed without appropriate redundancy provisions. The Fund claimed that she was not technically an employee of the Fund, but of a sub organisation, the Global Mechanism, this claim was defeated by the International Court of Justice last month.
8 Feb 2012
SOPHIE INGE
ROME – Italy’s lost youth trapped by the peninsula’s depressed labour market are being given a unique chance to broaden their horizons and find temporary employment in Canada.
30 Jan 2012
ALYX BARKER
ROME -- Irish artist Michelle Rogers’ collection of art was seized by Italian officials in 2010 as part of a fraud investigation into telecommunications operator, Fastweb. Massimo Micucci, owner of the Aequalis Gallery where the paintings were being displayed was arrested as part of that investigation and the paintings confiscated. Two years on they are still under lock and key.
26 Jan 2012
Anonymous
By SOPHIE INGE
ROME -- “Sites, applications and networks can help man pray and meditate,” Pope Benedict XVI said in a message to mark the 46th World Day of Social Communications. “Short messages, often no more than brief Bible verse, can be used to express deep thoughts,” he said, in reference to social media sites such as Twitter on which users post messages in 140 characters or less.
25 Jan 2012
SOPHIE INGE
ROME -- The capital is set to get a taste of Albanian culture as plans are announced for the opening of a Cultural Institute to promote the country’s historical, literary and artistic heritage, official Italian news agency ANSA has reported.
The Institute will be named after 16th century Catholic Albanian writer Archbishop Pjeter Bogdani, who played a crucial role in the defence of Christianity in Europe and in the resistance against the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans.
25 Jan 2012
angus campbell
CALATAFIMI, Sicily -- On Jan. 1 at this hill town in the province of Trapani the representatives of the Ceti, the still-active mediaeval artisan guilds of the town met to decide whether or not to hold the Procession of the SS Crocefisso in 2012. The decision was affirmative - though late, as traditionally it ought to have been made in October.
13 Jan 2012