Italian judge throws out case against migrant NGOs after seven years
Rome, Italy Reuters An Italian judge on Friday cleared three migrant sea rescue charities that had been accused of abetting irregular immigration in complicity with human traffickers, throwing out a case opened more than seven years ago. A pre-trial judge in Trapani, Sicily, said there were no grounds to proceed against international charities Doctors Without […]
Sixty migrants feared drowned crossing Mediterranean from Libya
Rome, Italy Reuters As many as 60 people are feared to have drowned on a vessel carrying migrants across the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy or Malta, the operators of a charity rescue group said on Thursday. SOS Mediterranee said it rescued 25 people in a “very weak” condition in coordination with the Italian Coast […]
Italy abuse case highlights how scandal slowly beginning to come to light in Pope’s backyard
Rome, Italy AP The clergy sexual abuse scandal is slowly gathering steam in Italy with increasing media coverage, criminal convictions and the launch Monday of an investigative podcast dedicated to a case that tangentially involved Pope Francis. A Sicilian court last week convicted a priest of sexual violence and attempted sexual violence against three minors […]
Newborn found dead on migrant boat off Italy’s Lampedusa as islanders protest
Lampedusa, Italy Reuters The Italian Coast Guard found a newborn baby dead on a boat carrying migrants to Lampedusa, ANSA news agency reported on Saturday, as dozens of the island’s citizens protested over a recent surge in arrivals. Nearly 126,000 migrants have arrived in Italy this year, almost double the figure by the same date […]
Italy’s Lampedusa pleads for help after thousands of migrant arrivals
Lampedusa, Italy Reuters The small Italian island of Lampedusa is being overwhelmed by the number of migrants arriving on its shores, its mayor said on Thursday, after thousands of people landed from North Africa on flimsy boats over the past two days. Lampedusa sits in the Mediterranean between Tunisia, Malta and the larger Italian island […]
Mount Etna eruption closes Sicily’s troubled Catania airport
Catania, Sicily Reuters Flights serving the eastern Sicilian city of Catania were halted on Monday after an eruption from nearby Mount Etna, local authorities said, bringing fresh travel woe to the crisis-plagued Italian airport. The 3,330 metre high volcano burst into action overnight, firing lava and ash high over the Mediterranean island. The lava flow […]
After 30 years, Italy arrests mafia boss Messina Denaro at Sicilian hospital
Palermo, Italy Reuters Italy’s most wanted mafia boss, Matteo Messina Denaro, was arrested by armed police at a private hospital in Sicily on Monday, where the man who has been on the run since 1993 was being treated for cancer. Nicknamed “Diabolik” and “‘U Siccu” (The Skinny One), Messina Denaro had been sentenced in absentia […]
Pope returns Greece’s Parthenon Sculptures in ecumenical nod
Vatican CityAP Pope Francis will send back to Greece the three fragments of the Parthenon Sculptures that the Vatican Museums have held for two centuries, in the latest case of a Western museum bowing to demands for restitution of artifacts to their countries of origin. In announcing the decision Friday, the Vatican termed the gesture […]
Migrant charity ship spurned by Italy heads to France
Rome, ItalyReuters A migrant rescue ship with more than 200 people on board headed to France on Tuesday after Italy refused it permission to dock as its new right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attempts to crack down on migration across the Mediterranean. Meloni’s two-week-old government has told charity vessels to take rescued people to other […]
Parthenon fragment returns to Greece, rekindling campaign for UK to hand over marbles
Athens, GreeceReuters A marble fragment of the Parthenon temple has been returned to Athens from a museum in Sicily, a move officials hope will advance efforts to have the British Museum send back ancient sculptures from Greece’s most renowned ancient landmark. Athens’ Acropolis Museum presented on Monday the “Fagan fragment”, a 35-by-31-centimetre marble fragment showing the […]