Category Archives: Italy

Ötzi the iceman had receding hairline and dark skin tone, study reveals

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Genome analysis reveals new physical details of mummified corpse found in ice of Italian Alps

Dark eyes, receding black hair, few or no freckles and a darker skin tone. This is how Ötzi the iceman, the mummified corpse found trapped in the ice of the Italian Alps, would have looked while living.

Researchers who conducted a higher-coverage analysis of the genome to learn more about Ötzi’s genetic history and the mummified man’s physical appearance have found genes associated with male-pattern baldness and darker skin tone.

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Saudis ask to join UK, Italy and Japan’s joint air combat programme

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UK-backed move could help spread cost of developing fighter jet and drones, but may prove controversial

Saudi Arabia has asked the UK, Japan and Italy to be made a full partner in their joint effort to build the next generation of fighter jets, in a move backed by the British government.

Companies from the UK, Japan and Italy are working together to build a new fighter jet and other systems such as drones under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), also known as Tempest. The programme aims to deliver the first planes by 2035, a tight turnaround.

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Musk says proposed Zuckerberg cage fight to be held at ‘epic location’ in Italy

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X owner in talks with government over historic site for event – though Colosseum and Rome ruled out

Elon Musk is in talks with Italy’s government about hosting his proposed cage fight with Mark Zuckerberg at a historic site in the country, but the Colosseum has been ruled out as a venue.

The owner of X Corp and the chief executive of Facebook-owner Meta first raised the idea of a one-on-one scrap in a series of social media posts back in June. The challenge came as Zuckerberg prepared to launch Threads, a rival microblogging site to Musk’s now rebranded Twitter platform.

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Italian writer and campaigner Michela Murgia dies at 51

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Anti-fascist novelist was a campaigner for LGBTQ+ rights and had recently made her illness public

Michela Murgia, the Italian writer and civil rights campaigner, has died at the age of 51.

Murgia, who was born in Cabras, Sardinia, and was known for her campaigns for LGBTQ+ rights and euthanasia, publicly revealed (in Italian) a few months ago that she had been diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer. The award-winning writer and intellectual decided to speak openly about her illness, continuing to write articles and speak at public debates.

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More than 40 feared dead after boat sinks in Mediterranean near Lampedusa

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Four people rescued say vessel had set off from Sfax in Tunisia and had taken on water in stormy conditions

At least 41 people are feared to have died after a boat sank in rough seas off the Italian island of Lampedusa in the central Mediterranean, Italian authorities and the UN said on Wednesday.

Four survivors who were rescued on Wednesday morning by a Maltese bulk carrier and eventually moved to a patrol boat from the Italian coastguard, said they had been on a vessel that set off from the Tunisian port of Sfax six days ago and sank on its way to Italy’s shores.

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Italy approves 40% windfall tax on banks for 2023 as profits soar

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Proceeds from levy on interest rate income will be used to help mortgage holders and cut taxes

Italy has announced a one-off 40% windfall tax on local banks that have been accused of reaping billions in extra profit from rising interest rates.

The Italian government, which approved the surprise tax in a cabinet meeting on Monday night, said it planned to use the proceeds to support mortgage holders and cut taxes, at a time when rising rates have put extra pressure on households.

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Italian official rebuked for proclaiming innocence of Bologna terrorists

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Marcello De Angelis, a communications chief for the Lazio region, said he knew the trio were not involved in the 1980 explosion

A senior regional official in Italy who used to be a member of a neofascist group has sparked anger after attempting to clear the names of three people convicted of one of the country’s worst terrorist attacks.

Marcello De Angelis, the communications chief of the Lazio region, made the remarks days after Italy marked the 43rd anniversary of the bombing of Bologna train station, in which 85 people were killed and more than 200 were injured.

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Bodies of woman and toddler found after migrant boats sink off Lampedusa

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Italian coastguard says two bodies recovered, amid reports of at least 30 people missing from two vessels that sailed from Tunisia

The bodies of a woman and toddler were recovered by the Italian coastguard after two shipwrecks overnight off the southern island of Lampedusa.

Fifty-seven people were rescued and more than 30 were believed to be missing as of Sunday afternoon in what was described as “more tragic news” regarding those making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean in search of refuge in Europe.

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Italian fugitive caught after passion for football betrays his location

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Vincenzo La Porta spotted in a photo of fans celebrating in Corfu after Napoli won Italy’s league championship

Love for his Naples football team betrayed the hideout of a longtime fugitive, who was captured while riding a moped on a Greek island, Italian police have said.

Naples-based Carabinieri paramilitary police said Vincenzo La Porta, who was on Italy’s list of 100 most dangerous fugitives, was spotted in a photo of fans in a restaurant in Corfu, who were celebrating after the Napoli football squad clinched Italy’s top league championship a few weeks ago.

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Bloomsbury USA president dies in speedboat collision in Italy

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Adrienne Vaughan was on family holiday and reportedly fell overboard when speedboat collided with a sailboat

Adrienne Vaughan, the 45-year-old president of the US branch of the Bloomsbury publishing house, has been killed after a collision between a speedboat and a 45-metre sailboat on Italy’s Amalfi coast.

Vaughan was on holiday in Italy with her husband and two children when the collision happened on Thursday.

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Italy’s ‘Attenzione pickpocket!’ social media star found to have far-right links

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Monica Poli, a social media star for challenging petty thieves, is a councillor for Lega, which backs anti-Roma policies

Her bellowing cry – “Attenzione pickpocket!” – has turned her into a social media superstar, with videos featuring her crusade against petty crime racking up millions of views, spawning a trove of flattering news profiles and even a handful of dance tracks that riff on her signature catchphrase.

This week, however, it emerged that Monica Poli, TikTok’s celebrated citizen vigilante who publicly shames pickpockets by alerting tourists to their presence, is a councillor for Italy’s far-right Lega (League) party. Led by Matteo Salvini, the party has long been linked to draconian policies and incendiary rhetoric targeting asylum seekers, immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community.

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Italian PM Giorgia Meloni sues Placebo singer for calling her ‘fascist racist’

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Calls for overhaul of defamation laws in Italy after legal action brought against Brian Molko

The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is suing Placebo frontman, Brian Molko, for defamation after publicly calling her “racist” and “fascist”, according to local media reports.

Molko made the comments during a performance by the band at the Sonic Park festival in Stupinigi outside Turin in July. “Giorgia Meloni, piece of shit, fascist, racist,” he appeared to shout in Italian in footage posted on social media by fans who attended the gig.

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Italian singer Baby K decries selfie ‘madness’ after being hurt by fan

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Artist forced to cancel summer tour after being ‘charged at’ by woman at the end of concert

The Italian singer Baby K has hit out against the “madness” of selfies and called for greater protection for artists after she was injured by a fan and forced to cancel the rest of her tour.

In a video posted on TikTok, she said she suffered “breast trauma” after being “charged at” by a woman at the end of a concert on Monday in Teramo, Italy, as a crowd of fans surged around her for selfies.

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Four Tunisians arrested for piracy over engine thefts from migrant boats

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Men held in Sicily accused of intercepting vessels and demanding cash, phones and vital engines

Police in Italy have arrested four Tunisians on charges of piracy, accusing them of intercepting migrant boats in the central Mediterranean and stealing their engines, leaving the vessels adrift.

Investigators said the four men would identify boats carrying asylum seekers to Europe and, with the help of other vessels, blockade them in international waters off the Tunisian coast, before boarding them to rob the passengers of money and phones and the boat of its valuable engine.

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Italy seeking to leave ‘atrocious’ China Belt and Road plan without harming ties – minister

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‘Improvised and atrocious’ decision in 2019 made Italy the only major western member, says Guido Crosetto, the defence minister

Joining China’s vast Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was an “atrocious” decision, Italy’s defence minister has said, and the issue was how to leave it without damaging ties with Beijing.

Guido Crosetto said in an interview published on Sunday that the move made four years ago under a previous government had done little to boost exports, while Chinese exports to Italy had soared.

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Emperor Nero’s lost theatre found under site of hotel in Rome

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Archaeologists hail ‘exceptional finds’ at venue whose existence was previously known only from mentions in ancient texts

The ruins of Nero’s Theatre, an imperial theatre referred to in ancient Roman texts but never found, have been discovered under the garden of a future Four Seasons hotel, steps away from the Vatican.

Archaeologists in Rome have excavated deep under the walled garden of the Palazzo della Rovere since 2020 as part of planned renovations on the frescoed Renaissance building. The palazzo, which takes up a city block along the broad Via della Conciliazione leading to Saint Peter’s Square, is home to an ancient Vatican chivalric order that leases the space to a hotel to raise money for Christians in the Holy Land.

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Italian parliament approves bill to criminalise surrogacy abroad

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Surrogacy is already illegal in Italy, while IVF is only available for heterosexual couples

The Italian parliament has approved a bill criminalising people who go abroad to have children via surrogacy, a measure described as “a disgrace”.

The bill, passed in the chamber of deputies with 166 votes in support and 109 against, is aimed only at Italians and envisages fines of up to €1m (£856,690) and jail terms of up to two years for those who break it.

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‘Like a blowtorch’: Mediterranean gripped by wildfires as blazes spread in Croatia and Portugal

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‘There is no magical defence mechanism,’ says Greek prime minister as fires burn in northern Africa and southern Europe

Wildfires were burning in at least nine countries across the Mediterranean as blazes spread in Croatia and Portugal, with thousands of firefighters in Europe and north Africa working in extreme heat to contain flames stoked by high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds.

High temperatures and parched ground sparked wildfires in countries on both sides of the Mediterranean, with at least 34 people killed in Algeria, where 8,000 firefighters on Tuesday battled blazes across the tinder-dry north. Fires burned in a total of 15 provinces, leading to the evacuation of more than 1,500 people.

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Storms and wildfires kill seven in Italy as extreme weather continues

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Three people killed in Sicily fires and four in northern storms as hundreds forced to flee homes

Seven people have died in the past 24 hours as two extreme weather events split Italy between wildfires in the south and violent storms in the north.

Fires in Sicily caused the temporary closure of Palermo airport after temperatures in the city climbed to 47C on Monday.

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Venice film festival picks starry films despite actors’ strike

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Hollywood films vying for Golden Lion include Bradley Cooper’s Maestro and Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things, with non-competition films by Wes Anderson and Richard Linklater

The Venice film festival appears to have largely shrugged off issues caused by non-attendance of Hollywood actors due to the Sag-Aftra strike as it unveiled its lineup for its 2023 edition.

Venice has traditionally functioned partly as a platform for major American releases looking for strong positioning in the autumn awards season, and it has already seen its originally announced opening film Challengers, a tennis drama starring Zendaya, drop out after it was forced to delay its release date.

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