Italy

Stories 1121 - 1140 | << Prev   Next >>

Vatican Objects to Image of Frog on Crucifix

Calls it 'desecration,' but Italian museum won't take it down

(Newser) - Despite objections from the pope, a sculpture of a crucified frog will continue to hang in an Italian museum, board officials said today. The Vatican slammed the work, called Feet First, as a blasphemous attack on Christianity. But museum officials cited artistic freedom and said its German creator considered the...

Brutal Monk Beatings Shock Italy
 Brutal Monk Beatings Shock Italy
Aug 28, 2008 1:16 PM CDT

Brutal Monk Beatings Shock Italy

Hooded attackers bound, gagged victims in Clockwork Orange -like attack

(Newser) - A manhunt is under way to find the three hooded men who gagged, bound, and beat four Franciscan monks in an Italian monastery Tuesday night, the Times of London reports. Father Sergio Baldin, the monastery's 48-year-old guardian, was having dinner with three elderly monks when they were attacked. Baldin remains...

Pressured Priest: We'll Have Nun of Catwalks

'Miss Sister' beauty contest canceled

(Newser) - An Italian priest's plans for a nun beauty pageant have been nixed by his higher-ups, the BBC reports. Father Antonio Rungi, who said the idea was to highlight the inner beauty of nuns and smash stereotypes of the sisters as old and dour, decided to draw a veil over the...

Baby Turtles Go Out for Italian
 Baby Turtles Go Out for Italian 
Aug 19, 2008 11:34 AM CDT

Baby Turtles Go Out for Italian

(Newser) - Sixty baby turtles took Rome restaurant-goers by surprise when they showed up under a table, Reuters reports. The newly hatched creatures normally instinctively head toward the sea from their beach birthplace, but “they saw the artificial lights and took the wrong route,” said a wildlife conservator. “The...

Thinking Inside the Box Means Greener, Cheaper Vino

Quality is rising, so get on board, wine snobs

(Newser) - A move by Italy toward wine in boxes should be a kick in the grapes for US producers and consumers, Tyler Colman writes in the New York Times. “But the sky isn’t falling. Wine in a box makes sense environmentally and economically,” the author and blogger continues,...

Irate Wrestler Chucks Bronze
 Irate Wrestler Chucks Bronze
OLYMPICS
Aug 14, 2008 1:38 PM CDT

Irate Wrestler Chucks Bronze

Sweden's Abrahamian only out for the gold

(Newser) - Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian threw his bronze medal to the floor during the ceremony, stormed off, and vowed to quit the sport, the Telegraph reports. "I don't care about this medal. I wanted gold," Abrahamian said. The wrestler had earlier confronted the judges’ over their decision that eventually...

World's 10 Sexiest Hotels
 World's 10 Sexiest Hotels
Aug 9, 2008 6:32 PM CDT

World's 10 Sexiest Hotels

From spaceage to Japanese traditional, these rooms ooze appeal

(Newser) - Hotels can inspire us to do more than order room service and watch TV—or so Bill Tikos reports, in his London Times list of the planet’s 10 sexiest hotels:
  • Hotel Puerta America, Madrid: A private terrace with flowers and lemon trees creates a uniquely intimate ambience.
  • Bay of
...

Prosecco Targets Champagne Crown

Italian bubbly makers hope to edge out pricey champagne

(Newser) - Sales of Italy's answer to champagne have been bubbling up for years, Reuters writes, but prosecco producers plan to boost output to 250 million bottles next year, with an eye on someday overtaking champagne as the world's favorite sparkling wine. The bubbly is cheaper to make than its French rival,...

Rome Cracks Down on Revelers
 Rome Cracks Down on Revelers 
Jul 11, 2008 5:50 PM CDT

Rome Cracks Down on Revelers

New ordinance forbids eating, drinking, noise

(Newser) - Rome's residents and visitors had best behave themselves for the next 4 months: An experimental ordinance bans eating and drinking in the streets of the Eternal City, and cracks down on hooligans who want to "shout, sing or be noisy," Reuters reports. The newly elected mayor enacted the...

Murder Indictment Sought Against Amanda Knox

Seattle woman accused in death of British student in Italy

(Newser) - Prosecutors are seeking murder indictments against Amanda Knox and two other suspects in the death of the British college student who was Knox's roomate in Italy, the AP reports. Prosecutors in Perugia requested that Knox, 21, of Seattle; her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito; and Ivory Coast citizen Rudy Hermann...

EU Blasts Italy Over Gypsy Fingerprinting

Proposal to fight crime is racist and must stop, parliament says

(Newser) - Italy’s mandatory fingerprinting of its Gypsy minority is "an act of discrimination based on race and ethnic origin" and should be stopped, the European Parliament said in a resolution passed today. The assembly voted 336-220, with 77 abstentions, to condemn the practice—though the resolution is not binding,...

Italians Impatient With Alitalia Rescue Efforts

Berlusconi's pleas for patriotism fall on deaf ears

(Newser) - Fed up with government efforts to resuscitate Alitalia, many Italians think Rome needs to face reality and let the airline die, Bloomberg reports. PM Silvio Berluconi characterizes Alitalia’s survival as “a matter of national security,” but it hasn't turned a profit in nearly a decade. The latest...

Italy Calls In Shrinks for Garbage Crisis

Berlusconi dispatches psychologists as part of promise to clean up mess

(Newser) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has a “final solution" to Naples' trash problem—and it includes psychologists, Der Spiegel reports. Naples, whose overflowing landfills have led to intermittently trash-choked streets for years, will soon be invaded by an army of volunteers, including a group of psychologists trained in counseling...

Italy Plan to Fingerprint Gypsies Under Fire

Measure against ethnic minority decried as racist

(Newser) - Italy has begun taking fingerprints from members of its Gypsy minority, in what the government calls a “census” of the people living in nomad encampments. The plans to document adults and children lacking an EU passport has brought condemnations from critics, who charge that “census” is the Berlusconi...

Rumors From Vatican: Bush May Convert

Sit-down with pope sparks talk that prez could turn Catholic

(Newser) - President Bush visited Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican yesterday, sparking rumors that the president may convert to Catholicism, the Telegraph reports. They spoke in a garden where the pontiff prays daily, not in the library where Benedict greets most world leaders. “What an honor!” said Bush, who...

'Unicorn' Deer Spotted in Italy
 'Unicorn' Deer Spotted in Italy 
Jun 11, 2008 6:02 PM CDT

'Unicorn' Deer Spotted in Italy

Similar anomalies may have inspired myths, experts say

(Newser) - A deer with a single horn in the center of its head has been spotted in an Italian nature preserve, triggering speculation that such anomalies may have helped give rise to unicorn myths, the AP reports. Experts say the year-old deer, born in captivity and nicknamed “Unicorn,” likely...

Controversy Erupts Over Dutch Goal
Controversy Erupts Over Dutch Goal
Jun 10, 2008 11:38 AM CDT

Controversy Erupts Over Dutch Goal

Opening goal in 3-0 win over Italy legit, Euro 2008 officials rule

(Newser) - When Ruud van Nistelrooy scored the Netherlands' first goal in yesterday's Euro 2008 match, Dutch and Italian fans alike waited for the offsides call. It didn't come, leaving the Italians incensed, the Dutch warily pleased, and the officials defiant. UEFA confirmed today that van Nistelrooy wasn't offsides thanks to a...

'Super' Mafia Witness Gunned Down in Naples

Slain informant was helping cops bust garbage gangs

(Newser) - The boss of a garbage disposal firm with Mafia links who had turned informant was gunned down in a bar near Naples yesterday, the Guardian reports. The murdered man had been helping police target gangs that control waste disposal in the city, currently gripped by a garbage crisis. He had...

Vatican Mulls the Case for St. John Paul II

Even a beloved pope has to wait to see if he's sainthood material

(Newser) - He may have served as the spiritual leader for millions of Catholics for more than 26 years, but the soul of Pope John II is under intense scrutiny in Rome. The Washington Post takes a look at the office charged with determining whether the beloved pontiff is eligible for sainthood—...

Damn Straight! Leaning Tower Stabilized

Tower shored up for at least another 300 years

(Newser) - Italian engineers have stabilized the leaning Tower of Pisa, safeguarding it from toppling over for at least another 300 years, the Times of London reports. The famously off-kilter tower began tilting shortly after construction started in 1173, and was in danger of falling. Engineers didn't try to straighten it completely,...

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