Italy

Stories 841 - 860 | << Prev   Next >>

Knox's Parents Face Years in Italian Jail

Pair accused of defamation for repeating claim cops abused daughter

(Newser) - Amanda Knox's mom takes her own turn in an Italian court today in a preliminary hearing that will determine if, along with Knox's father, she'll face years in prison for repeating their daughter's claim that she was mistreated by police. Twelve police officers—represented by the same lawyer who represented...

Italy Battles to Save Crosses in Classroom

Europe says they violate freedom, Italy says they're culture

(Newser) - Italy is fighting a court ruling that bans crucifixes from classrooms. After a secular Italian woman sued to have crucifixes removed from her sons' classrooms, Italian courts said the cross belonged there as a symbol of Italy's culture and history. The European Court of Human Rights disagreed, ruling religious symbols...

Slovakia Knocks Out Italy With 3-2 Upset

 Slovakia Knocks Out Italy 
 With 3-2 Upset 
World Cup

Slovakia Knocks Out Italy With 3-2 Upset

Defending champs finish dead last in Group F

(Newser) - Defending champion Italy was eliminated from the World Cup today after a humbling 3-2 loss that sent Slovakia through to the round of 16. For the third consecutive match, the Azzurri allowed an early goal, and this time they never recovered. Robert Vittek put Slovakia ahead in the 25th minute...

Italians Believe They've Found Caravaggio's Bones

400-year-old mystery may be solved

(Newser) - Italian researchers say they're 85% sure bones found in a Tuscan church are the remains of Renaissance wildman Caravaggio. The celebrity painter, known for his boozing, brawling, and womanizing, died in 1610. His last days have long been a mystery, with some speculating that was assassinated for religious reasons. The...

Questions Foxy Knoxy Should Answer
 Questions Foxy Knoxy 
 Should Answer 
OPINION

Questions Foxy Knoxy Should Answer

A less-than-sympathetic journalist's dream interview

(Newser) - Amanda Knox was supposed to give a big jailhouse interview to coincide with her upcoming slander trial, but Italian officials canceled it at the last minute. Noted Knox hater Barbie Latza Nadeau was crestfallen, she writes for the DailyBeast , because she had a whole list of nasty questions she'd have...

Police: Coffin Wood Fuels Naples Pizza Ovens

Cops believe grave robbers supply pizzerias

(Newser) - Unscrupulous pizzeria owners in Naples may be giving their pizzas that unique wood-fired taste by using cut-rate wood from coffins dug up by a gang of grave robbers, police say. "A real suspicion hangs over pizza—one of the few remaining important symbols of the city—that it could...

Mayor Declares War on Garden Gnomes

Italian city council set to ban lawn statues

(Newser) - The mayor of Furore, Italy, wants garden gnomes out of his city—immediately. The reason? "They cause an alteration of the natural environment," he says. An ordinance banning the lawn statues is before the city council, and sources tell the ANSA news service the gnomes "could be...

Convent Drug Ring Busted
 Convent Drug Ring Busted 

Convent Drug Ring Busted

Nuns were oblivious to cocaine in prayer books

(Newser) - Italian police have smashed a huge cocaine ring that used a Milan-area convent as a cover. The convent's South American janitor collected cocaine hidden in prayer books from drug smugglers posing as pilgrims, the BBC reports. The janitor was among 33 people busted. Mafia and Colombian cartels were behind the...

Berlusconi Loses $105M Villa in Divorce

Veronica Lario will take reduced alimony payment

(Newser) - Love hurts, but it's divorce that's pummeling Silvio Berlusconi's wallet, reports the Independent . He's agreed to fork over a $105 million villa that soon-to-be ex-wife Veronica Lario is extremely attached to, and she in return will settle for alimony much less than the $5.3 million a month she had...

Muslim Woman Fined $650 for Wearing Veil

Penalty believed first in Italy

(Newser) - A Tunisian immigrant has become the first woman in Italy fined for wearing a veil. The 26-year-old woman was stopped by police at a post office in the city of Norova—a stronghold of the anti-immigration Northern League party—and told she was in violation of a local bylaw barring...

Baby Survives Abortion for 2 Days

Italian docs may face charges for leaving baby to die

(Newser) - Italian police are considering bringing homicide charges against doctors who left an aborted baby boy to die. The boy, aborted at 22 weeks, was found breathing almost a full day after the operation by a priest who had gone to pray beside the body. The infant was taken to a...

Bombs Discovered Near Clooney Mansion

Unexploded WWII arsenal found in waters off villa

(Newser) - The town surrounding George Clooney's Italian villa has been sealed off while specialists remove an arsenal of World War II bombs big enough to blow the star and his neighbors sky high. The unexploded ordnance, including mines, mortars, and at least on 500lb bomb, was found by a Lake Como...

Church Accuses Berlusconi of Sacrilege

Divorced PM's taking of Holy Communion enrages priest, bishop

(Newser) - The relationship between Italy's two most reliable sources of sex scandals appears to be on the rocks. A furious Catholic priest has accused controversial Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of "sacrilege" for recently taking communion at a celebrity funeral and breaking the church ban on sacraments for divorced people...

Prosecutors Seek Life for Knox

Yank already sentenced to 26 years

(Newser) - Italian prosecutors have filed an appeal seeking to boost American student Amanda Knox's murder sentence to life in prison. Knox, convicted late last year of brutally killing roommate Meredith Kercher, is already serving 26 years. Her family tells ABC News they're "quite disappointed" by the action. They plan to...

Safest Place to Give Birth? Italy
Safest Place to Give Birth? Italy

Safest Place to Give Birth? Italy

Afghanistan is worst, but deaths during childbirth plummet 40% globally

(Newser) - The number of women who die while giving birth has plummeted over the last 30 years, thanks mostly to dramatic improvements in populous rising nations like India, China, Brazil, and Egypt, according to a new study. Globally, 251 mothers died for every 100,000 babies born in 2008, a 40%...

Bishop: Vatican Abuse Uproar a 'Zionist Attack'

Italian priest allegedly blames Jews for sex abuse scandal

(Newser) - Jews are fanning the flames of the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal, an elderly Italian bishop has allegedly claimed—and American Jewish groups aren't too happy about it. A Catholic website quotes Giacomo Babini, 81, as saying the "powerful and refined" nature of criticism of the church suggests a...

Hitler Aimed to 'Steal' Turin Shroud

Adolf was 'obsessed' with miraculous relic

(Newser) - The Vatican hid the Shroud of Turin at an Italian abbey because Hitler was "obsessed" with the purported burial cloth of Christ and officials worried he planned to add it to his collection of stolen artworks and relics. The shroud, imprinted with the image of a face believed by...

Toads Can Predict Earthquakes
 Toads Can Predict Earthquakes 

Toads Can Predict Earthquakes

Pick up on pre-seismic cues days ahead of quake

(Newser) - Three days before a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck L'Aquila, Italy, last year, nearby toads left their breeding colony, not to return until several days after the quake. That's unusual enough behavior that the scientist studying the toads think the amphibians must have detected seismic activity—the first-ever evidence of animals...

Fearing Election Losses, Berlusconi Calls Rival Ugly

Italian PM lashes out as polls put his party at disadvantage

(Newser) - Silvio Berlusconi is getting nasty over the prospect of his party losing seats in this weekend's regional elections, and he's aiming his fury at the media, judges, and…the governor of the Piemonte region? “You know why Bresso is always in a bad mood?” said Berlusconi about the 65-year-old...

'Scarface' Mobster Nailed on Facebook

Italian cops nabbed thug while he was chatting online

(Newser) - Pasquale Manfredi is a "cold and cruel" assassin but he has a soft spot for Facebook that proved to be his undoing, according to Italian police. Manfredi—nicknamed "Scarface"—was tracked down through an Internet key to access the site. He was chatting on Facebook when cops...

Stories 841 - 860 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser