ROME – As staff at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) were poised to enjoy a day off work to mark the Chinese New Year this week, observers said Washington's response to the attempt by the UN agency’s Chinese Director General, Qu Dongyu, to obtain a third term of office will be a litmus test of the Trump Administration’s seriousness in curbing Beijing’s growing ambitions at the United Nations and elsewhere.
JAN FILIPOWICZ
28 Jan 2025
Ophelia Gregory
ROME – Two children died and one was missing in Maltese waters, according to the coast guard.
The children are believed to all belong to the same mother and the parents are among the survivors, who were taken to Lampedusa on Monday.
The boat was carrying migrants who originated from Nigeria and the Cameroon.
The bodies of the two little boys, aged 2 and 3, were recovered Monday evening at Lampedusa and were brought to the mortuary at Cala Pisana.
28 Jan 2025
Josephine de La Bruyère
ROME — Belgian police said they arrested Radja Nainggolan, an ex-Cagliari, Roma, Inter Milan, and Piacenza midfielder currently toiling in Belgium's second-tier football league, on charges of trafficking cocaine from South America through Antwerp's port, police said.
Federal police took Nainggolan into custody on the morning of Jan. 27, after launching 30 drug-busting raids around Antwerp, Brussels, and the cities' peripheries, they said.
28 Jan 2025
Ophelia Gregory
ROME – The Italian patrol ship Cassiopea arrived Tuesday in Shengjin, Albania, which was transporting 49 migrants, which the Italian government has declared to be from safe countries according to Fatto Quotidiano.
The migrants were saved the past weekend in international waters, south of Lampedusa.
The ship arrived in the port at 7:30 A.M. and on board the majority were Bengali, as well as nationals from Egypt, the Ivory Coast and Gambia.
28 Jan 2025
Ophelia Gregory
ROME – The Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has been in Saudi Arabia since Saturday has met with Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Al-Ula desert and rounded off her trip with a 10-billion-euro agreement with the country, Palazzo Chigi has said.
Meloni’s previous judgements about the nation, in the past had not been so positive, however, she brought her daughter, Ginevra with her on the plane and sat amongst the cushions and rugs as she sat in the UNSECO world heritage site with the prince.
27 Jan 2025
Ophelia Gregory
ROME - Roccaraso, a small mountain town in Abruzzo, has recently experienced an explosion of tourism, seeing 220 coaches and over ten thousand arriving from Naples and surrounding areas on Sunday, according to il Mattino.
The extraordinary influx of extra vehicles caused long queues and travel times of 6 hours for the journey between Castel di Sangro and Roccaraso, a situation which has not been seen as the 80s.
27 Jan 2025
Michael Mewshaw
ROME — In pro tennis, the four Grand Slam tournaments – the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open – have historically showcased the game at its best. Less often mentioned, they also showcase the game at its worst – although examples of this are usually stifled by the sport’s penchant for omertà. Ugly things happen and are almost instantly ignored. Even in real time, in events covered on international TV, spectators are not urged to believe the commentator’s flatulent remarks, not what they’ve just seen with their own eyes.
27 Jan 2025
Josephine de La Bruyère
ROME — The end of a 200-year-old UK tax regime sheltering offshore assets presents a “great opportunity” to Italy and to the superrich interested in moving there, said Dott. Roberto Ciccioli, head of tax and advisory services at Consulting Centre, a Rome- and Milan-based consultancy firm.
24 Jan 2025
Lucia Guerrieri
FLORENCE – The Court of Cassation confirmed a slander conviction appeal made by Amanda Knox concerning a false accusation against her former boss Patrick Lumumba.
During the original case hearings in 2007 Knox, 20 at the time, signed two statements that accused Lumumba of the murder. He had spent two weeks in jail until investigators realized his DNA was absent from the crime scene. The testimony of a Swiss Professor stated that on the night of the murder he was working in his pub, where Knox was a waitress.
24 Jan 2025