Italy

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Clashes Halt Nazi War Criminal's Funeral

Catholic extremists offer to hold service for Priebke

(Newser) - The corpse of a Nazi war criminal is far from resting in peace in Italy: A hearse containing the body of Erich Priebke, who died last week while under house arrest for his role in the 1944 massacre of 335 Italian civilians, was attacked by protesters yesterday as it approached...

200 Rescued When Migrant Boat Capsizes Off Italy

Up to 50 people thought to be dead

(Newser) - About 50 people are dead, including 10 children, after another boat carrying migrants to Italy capsized today in the Channel of Sicily, ANSA reports. (The AP's death toll is at 27.) It could have been far worse: Officials estimate that 200 of the 250 migrants on board have...

Italy Detains Alleged Shipwreck Captain

He'll face charges for deadly migrant boating disaster

(Newser) - Italian police have detained the man they believe was piloting the ship full of immigrants that capsized last week , and are considering charging him with manslaughter or even murder for the many killed in the incident. Khaled Bensalam, 35, has been arrested and expelled from Italy in the past for...

Americans Read and Math Bad
 Americans Read and Math Bad 

Americans Read and Math Bad

New study shows US adults are lagging in crucial skills

(Newser) - You've probably heard that test scores are lagging badly for America's youth, but it turns out they're just chips off the old blocks. A sweeping new study has found that American adults are below-average when it comes to literacy, basic math skills, and "problem-solving in technology-rich...

Italy Pulls 32 More Bodies From Shipwreck

Brings death toll to 143 in sinking of boat off Lampedusa

(Newser) - Italian divers today recovered 32 more bodies of migrants who died when a fishing boat with some 500 people onboard sank within sight of the tiny island of Lampedusa. Italy's integration minister, Cecile Kyenge, watched as soldiers transferred body bags from boats and onto trucks to be brought to...

At Least 94 Dead, Hundreds Missing in Sicily Shipwreck

Boat was carrying some 500 migrants from Africa

(Newser) - A ship carrying African migrants toward Italy caught fire and capsized off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa today, spilling hundreds of passengers into the sea, officials said. At least 94 bodies have been recovered so far, and 159 people rescued, but more than 200 people are unaccounted for. Pietro Bartolo,...

Success: Crews Salvage Costa Concordia

19-hour process was 'perfect': Costa tech head

(Newser) - Crews have pulled off one of the toughest salvage projects in history , managing to restore the wrecked Costa Concordia to an upright position off an Italian island. The effort took 19 hours—longer than the expected 10 to 12—and lasted until 4am local time. The "parbuckling" process used...

One of Trickiest Salvage Efforts Ever Begins
One of Trickiest Salvage Efforts Ever Begins
UPDATED

One of Trickiest Salvage Efforts Ever Begins

Costa Concordia will hopefully rise today

(Newser) - Today's vocab lesson: "parbuckling." That's the ambitious process that is under way in Italy, where a salvage team has started to lift the Costa Concordia almost exactly 20 months after it crashed into a reef, killing 32. It's being touted as one of the most...

Italy Set to Raise Costa Concordia

Unprecedented salvage operation will begin tomorrow

(Newser) - Authorities have given the final go-ahead for a daring attempt tomorrow to pull upright the crippled Costa Concordia cruise liner from the waters off Tuscany where it capsized 20 months ago. Italy's national Civil Protection agency waited until sea and weather conditions were forecast for dawn tomorrow before giving...

WWII Soldiers' Remains May Have Been Found in Lake

Amphibious vehicle sank in 1945

(Newser) - Somewhere on the bottom of Italy's largest lake lie the remains of two dozen American soldiers who died when their amphibious vehicle sank in 1945 in the waning days of the fighting in Europe during World War II. Now a volunteer group's discovery of what could be the...

Tourist Crushed to Death in Venice Gondola Crash

3-year-old girl also hospitalized

(Newser) - A German tourist was crushed to death today after the gondola he was riding in collided with a larger boat ferrying passengers along Venice's Grand Canal, authorities say. A police spokeswoman says the vaporetto, or the public "water bus" that plies Venice's canals, was docking and apparently...

Next in Mona Lisa Drama: Digging Up the Family Tomb

Lisa Gherardini's sons could provide a DNA match

(Newser) - Digging up the Mona Lisa was just the beginning, apparently. Now it's time to open her family's tomb for DNA samples of her two sons, NBC News reports. Last year, researchers exhumed several bodies in Florence, Italy, hoping one belonged to Lisa Gherardini—the likely model for Leonardo...

Oops: Tourist Snaps Finger Off 600-Year-Old Statue

Handsy American may face heavy fine

(Newser) - A clumsy tourist from Missouri is in for plenty of finger-wagging from the art world after accidentally snapping a digit off a 600-year-old statue in a museum in Florence, Italy. The 55-year-old was holding his hand against the statue's palm when a finger snapped off, NBC reports. The man...

Berlusconi Has Worst Day Yet in Court

His conviction, jail sentence for tax fraud is upheld

(Newser) - Silvio Berlusconi has had his share of bad days in court in recent years, but none worse than today. Italy's top court upheld his tax-fraud conviction and related one-year jail sentence, and almost every story calls it his "first definitive conviction" or some close variation after all his...

Rescuers: 37 Bodies Pulled From Italy Bus Crash

The bus was reportedly filled with Italian pilgrims

(Newser) - Another deadly crash in Europe : Rescuers are saying that at least 37 bodies have been pulled out of the mangled wreckage of a tour bus that plunged dozens of yards into a ravine off a major highway in southern Italy after slamming into several cars. The Italian news agency ANSA...

Meet the Zonkey: Half Zebra, Half Donkey

Ippo, a zebra-donkey hybrid, born in Italy

(Newser) - His dad is a zebra. His mom is a donkey. That makes Ippo, a foal born this week in Florence, Italy, an extremely rare hybrid called the zonkey. Ippo was conceived after her father jumped a fence that separated him from an endangered species of donkey at the nature reserve...

Bananas Tossed at Italy's First Black Minister

Follows senator's 'orangutan' comparison

(Newser) - As Italy's first black minister, Cecile Kyenge, spoke at a party rally Friday, a listener hurled bananas at her, the BBC reports. Police are seeking the person who tossed the fruit, which barely missed the integration minister. Fellow politicians slammed the incident, but it's not an isolated one:...

5 Costa Concordia Workers Guilty in Wreck: Court

But they may not face jail

(Newser) - Five Costa employees have been found guilty of manslaughter, negligence, and shipwreck in last year's Concordia disaster. Four crew members and the crisis-response director have been sentenced to prison terms between 18 months and two years and 10 months, the BBC reports, but they're unlikely actually to serve...

Panama Arrests Ex-US Spy Over CIA Tactics

Authorities nab Robert Seldon Lady at Italy's behest

(Newser) - A former American spy has been arrested in Panama at Italy's behest over his role in the CIA's controversial Bush-era extraordinary rendition tactic . An Italian court convicted Robert Seldon Lady , the CIA's Milan bureau chief, and more than 20 other agents of kidnapping in 2009, but by...

Costa Concordia Trial Opens, Immediately Stalls

Hearing adjourned until next week

(Newser) - The trial of Francesco Schettino, captain of the doomed Costa Concordia cruise liner, began today, 18 months after the ship ran aground—and was almost immediately postponed, the BBC reports. The hearing was adjourned to July 17 because a nationwide lawyers' strike is going on in Italy. (It involves a...

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