JAN FILIPOWICZ

ROME– Food and Agriculture Organisation staff with Vatican “protectors” or in secretive Opus Dei are favoured by the UN agency management among employees facing vicious job cuts, FAO watchers say.

 “In one confirmed case, a telephone call from the Vatican ensured that a professional staff member was placed in post at the same level in a country in the American continent,” a well-informed senior staffer told Italian Insider.

7 Nov 2013
ANDREW GARGANO
ROME - As trade between Italy and Turkey rapidly expands, two recent hotel acquisitions by Turkish companies in Venice and Capri have helped the value of Italo-Turkish trade grow to 16.5 billion euros.
 
The joint ventures and continually expanding overseas operations of Italian and Turkish companies have led to the two nations becoming among each other's largest trading partners. Turkish companies have now invested over 140 million euros in Italy, while over 1,000 Italian companies have brought their operations to Turkey.
 
6 Nov 2013
ANDREW GARGANO
ROME - Italian officials have ordered a ban on large cruise ships passing through the Venice lagoon that will cut maritime traffic by 45 percent once it is fully implemented next November.
 
6 Nov 2013
SHARON WALIA
ROME  - The 8th International Rome Film Festival at the grand Auditorium Parco della Musica (near Villa Borghese) Nov 8-17, sees American, Italian and Japanese cinema dominating the competition.
 
5 Nov 2013
INSIDER NEWSDESK
ROME - Italy has beaten France and reclaimed its title as the world's largest wine producer for 2013, the agricultural organisation Coldiretti reports.
 
France and Italy have battled for years over the title of world's largest wine producer, and after harvesting 45 million hectolitres of wine in 2013 (1 million hectolitres more than France), Italy has reclaimed the title.
 
4 Nov 2013
ANDREW GARGANO
ROME- Sicilian police have arrested a statuesque former Olympian from Ukraine and two Scandinavians on charges of abducting children in custody battles and "recovering" them for high fees.
 
 The investigation by Carabinieri paramilitary police began last year when authorities found that the Norwegian security firm ABP World Group allegedly was using special forces veterans to abduct children involved in custody battles. The group would "recover" children from the custodial parent and return them to the other parent for fees as high as 200,000 euro. 
1 Nov 2013
INSIDER NEWSDESK
ROME - Italian novelist Andrea Camilleri was celebrated by the American University of Rome (AUR) on Wednesday when he received an honorary degree from the university.
 
Andrea Camilleri is a well-known author who has published his books worldwide. He is most famous for his Inspector Montalbano novels.
 
31 Oct 2013
John Phillips

ROME – Ankara will give “long-term” support for Arab Spring movements until “democratic expectations and aspirations” prevail in Syria and Egypt, the Turkish Ambassador to Italy, Hakki Akil, says.

31 Oct 2013
INSIDER NEWSDESK
VATICAN CITY  -  The United States National Security Agency (NSA) monitored incoming and outgoing calls from the residence of Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) during the March 2013 conclave, reports Italian magazine Panorama. 
 
Information released last week revealed that 46 million phone calls in Italy were monitored by the United States between Dec. 10, 2013 and Jan. 8, 2013. Now it has been revealed that some of those calls were made by Pope Francis himself and other high-level religious leaders.
30 Oct 2013

Pages