Italy

ROME- The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Fincantieri signed the first 80 million euro tranche of a 140 million euro loan for financing the Italian shipbuilder’

GROSSETO— Experts from the Tribunal of Grosseto called in to investigate the Costa Concordia shipwreck of Jan.

ROME- A dramatic turning point took place in the Rebibbia courtroom bunker during the third hearing of the trial against the alleged Somali pirates last week.

ROME- Italian Marina del Gargano joins the network of MDL Marinas, Europe’s largest marina operator.

ROME - A national strike organized by independent unions to protest austerity measures hit both public and private transportation across Italy Friday.

VATICAN CITY- Pope Benedict XVI will visit northern Emilia Romagna next Tuesday to meet people affected by the severe earthquakes that have rocked the region, causing numerous casualties and making

 ROME-Interior Minister Annamaria Cancellieri has met with Finnish counterpart Päivi Räsänen to exchange ideas on church-state relations an

ROME- A tornado has struck Venice, narrowly missing its famous historical centre.

ROME - Seventeen workers in Tuscany, Emilia Romagna and Lazio are under investigation for counterfeiting mass amounts of “extra virgin” olive oil in the Mediterranean, judicial sources say.

Rome -Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf Air has appointed “Rephouse” as Passenger Sales Agent to its non-stop service between Rome and Bahrain.

ROME-- City mayor Giorgio Alemanno has come under fire for allowing a group accused of Fascist nostalgia to hire a room in the prestigious Capitoline Museum.

ROME-- The 18-day search for the Brindisi school bomber ends as Giovanni Vantaggiato, a married father of two, confesses to carrying out the attack which killed one student and wounded five more.

ROME - Despite Italy's pledge to expel Syrian Ambassador Khadour Hasan in light of the Houla massacre in which 108 people were murdered, the Ambassador evidently is still on Italian soil.

ROME - Alain Economides, the Italian Ambassador in London, has awarded Italian writer Gaia Servadio the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic for the honour her career has brought Italy.

ROME - An Austrian tourist spent an entire night desperately clinging to a buoy after being swept out to sea on the coast of Siniscola, Sardinia, during a windsurfing trip.

ROME - In a controversial move, Italian Justice Minister Paola Severino is to give prisoners being held in the Emilia-Romagna region the chance to assist in the earthquake rebuilding effort.

ROME-- A 5.1 quake struck Modena last night, followed by at least three smaller tremors this morning. Residents escaped injury, but historic buildings suffered damage.

ROME -- International law firm Hogan Lovells has recruited two new corporate partners in Milan.

ROME -- The European Investment Bank (EIB) has provided BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas with three separate lines of credit totalling 325 million euros for financing Italian SM

ROME– The Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen have been released on bail but with strict conditions.

ROME-- Italy's highest court has upheld a ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and annulled a previous judgment that Germany must compensate Italian victims of Nazi war crimes.

 ROME-- The governor of the Bank of Italy spoke today of the need for “deep-seated change” to help the young generation bring Italy out of its financial crisis.

ROME -- The government has announced several measures to help deal with the emergency in the centre-north of Italy following two devastating earthquakes that killed 24 and left 15,000 homeless.

ROME– Rome International School hopes to raise more than 30,000 euros for recovering Haiti in this year’s gala dinner.