Boy, 13, killed in Italy and fires across Berlin as people respond to public fireworks bans by letting them off at home
Banned from setting off fireworks in much of their city, some Berliners instead tried to launch them from their homes on New Year’s Eve, leading to dozens of fires across the German capital.
By six minutes after midnight, the Berlin fire service had been called to 18 fires, with more following. No one was initially reported seriously injured.
Continue reading...Prosecutors reject Italy’s finding that Egyptian security officials were behind kidnap and torture
Egypt’s public prosecution has officially closed its investigation into the murder of Giulio Regeni, rejecting Italian prosecutors’ findings that accused four Egyptian security officials of kidnapping and torturing the Italian doctoral student in 2016.
Italy officially indicted four Egyptian security officials including two from Egypt’s national security agency in early December. The four men were accused of kidnapping Regeni, whose body was found on an outlying Cairo highway in February 2016 showing signs of torture. One of the suspects, named as Magdi Ibrahim Abdel Al Sharif, is accused of grievous bodily harm.
Continue reading...Whether compelled by guilt or superstition, more and more tourists are returning items they lifted from Italian cultural sites
Some of the repentant sinners may be compelled by guilt, others by superstition.
But Italian museum curators and archeological officers have observed a trend of tourists who, having pilfered artefacts from cultural sites, return them, years later, with a heartfelt letter of confession.
Continue reading...The director of archaeology at Pompeii shows an exceptionally well-preserved snack bar, or thermopolium, which served food and drink to passers-by. Traces of food have been found in some of the jars, and the frescoes offer insights into Pompeiian eating habits. Human remains were also found of a victim of the volcanic eruption in AD79 that buried the ancient Roman city
Continue reading...The frescoed thermopolium, a Roman-era fast-food stall, is the first to be fully excavated
Researchers said on Saturday they had discovered a frescoed thermopolium or fast-food counter in an exceptional state of preservation in Pompeii.
Related: Researchers win £1m grant to unlock secrets of Viking-era treasure trove
Continue reading...City’s murals of Maradona have become pilgrimage sites since footballer’s death in November
A month since the death of Diego Armando Maradona and the southern Italian city of Naples is looking more like a Maradonaland each day.
After renaming Napoli football club’s San Paolo Stadium and a train station in his honour this month, local authorities are planning a large museum, commissioning statues and dedicating an entire square to the Argentinian who took the city’s football team to glory and is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.
Continue reading...Pope addresses fewer than 200 people in St Peter’s; China and US take action against UK amid concerns about new variant; South Korea reports daily case record
The coronavirus pandemic cast a pall over Christmas celebrations worldwide, with the pope holding a reduced St Peter’s mass, and further restrictions imposed on arrivals from the UK and South Africa amid concerns about potentially more transmissible variants of the virus.
China said it would halt UK flight arrivals indefinitely, deciding to follow the example of dozens of countries that introduced bans this week following the emergence of a new mutation in the virus. There are currently eight weekly flights between mainland China and Britain, including two by British Airways.
Continue reading...Italian Roberto Trignani is known for ‘awake surgery’ and other unorthodox methods
Playing the violin, watching cartoons and doing crosswords: these are just some of the activities patients have performed while having brain surgery under Roberto Trignani.
Trignani, the head of neurosurgery at Riuniti hospital in Ancona, Italy, was already known for his “awake surgery” techniques, which he has used roughly 70 times in the last few years. But he broke new ground in June this year when a 60-year-old woman prepared stuffed olives as he removed a tumour from her left temporal lobe.
Continue reading...PM, health minister and Lombardy president named in action by 500 bereaved families
Relatives of coronavirus victims in Italy are taking legal action against the prime minister, health minister and the president of the Lombardy region for alleged criminal negligence over their handling of the pandemic.
The group of 500 families will file their civil lawsuit on Wednesday with prosecutors in the Lombardy province of Bergamo, which was badly hit during the first wave of the pandemic. They claim the three leaders – Giuseppe Conte, Roberto Speranza and Attilio Fontana respectively – have contributed to Italy’s almost 70,000 Covid-19 deaths.
Continue reading...Health impact is unknown but scientists say particles may cause long-term damage to foetuses
Microplastic particles have been revealed in the placentas of unborn babies for the first time, which the researchers said was “a matter of great concern”.
The health impact of microplastics in the body is as yet unknown. But the scientists said they could carry chemicals that could cause long-term damage or upset the foetus’s developing immune system. The particles are likely to have been consumed or breathed in by the mothers.
Continue reading...WHO tells members to redouble efforts to stop spread as Israel turns away UK passport holders
European countries have begun to close their doors to travellers from the UK after the discovery of a fast-spreading strain of Covid-19 in England.
As the World Health Organization called on its members in Europe to step up measures, countries including France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands announced bans on travel from the UK.
Continue reading...Italy prepares for national lockdown over Christmas; Spanish minister warns of third wave
Austria is to enter a third lockdown from Boxing Day but will stage mass coronavirus tests in mid-January to determine who will be exempt from certain restrictions, the government announced on Friday.
Italy is preparing to outline new measures that could lead to a complete lockdown over the Christmas and new year period, while the Spanish government has warned of a possible “third wave” of infections.
Continue reading...Finnegan Lee Elder and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth are on trial for the death of Mario Cerciello Rega in Rome
The US student who admitted stabbing a policeman in Rome last year was shaking and crying inside a police station after learning the attack was fatal, his mother has testified at his trial.
Finnegan Lee Elder, 20, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 19, face life sentences for the July 2019 death of police officer Mario Cerciello Rega during a botched drug bust in Rome while they were on holiday.
Continue reading...Release of 18 men seized by Khalifa Haftar’s forces ends standoff between countries
Eighteen Italian fishermen, held captive in Libya for more than 100 days, have been freed, ending a political standoff between the two countries over the fate of the men.
The prolonged imprisonment of the group had become an embarrassment for Italy’s government, with critics accusing ministers of failing to stand up to Khalifa Haftar, the military commander who holds sway in eastern Libya.
Continue reading...Comments to Italian media are the strongest cardinal has made alleging abuse charges may be linked to Vatican corruption investigation
Cardinal George Pell has told an Italian current affairs program that there is “some evidence but no proof” that figures within the Vatican conspired to “destroy” him, the strongest comments he has made to date that allege the charges against him may be linked to Vatican corruption.
Pell claimed all senior figures within the Vatican who had taken charge of reforming the finances of the Holy See “with very few exceptions, has been attacked by the media on the level of reputation in one way or another”.
Continue reading...Netherlands also set to announce more restrictions amid mounting fears of surge in infections
Italy and the Netherlands are set to impose tough new anti-coronavirus measures before the holidays as Germany, already facing a hard Christmas lockdown, warned its restrictions were unlikely to ease early in the new year.
Italian media reported that the government could place the whole country under so-called “red-zone” lockdown from Christmas Eve until at least 2 January amid mounting fears of a possible surge in infections over the festive period.
Continue reading...From December 2019, when an unknown virus was found in China, to the release of vaccines for Covid-19 – here are the points where momentum shifted
From December 2019, when an unknown virus was found in China, to the release of vaccines for Covid-19, it has been an extraordinary year. Here’s how the momentum shifted
Continue reading...Our foreign correspondents reflect on the practical and cultural importance of fluency in a country’s native tongue
During the worst of the coronavirus outbreak in China, people described to us deeply personal and traumatic experiences – losing their parents, suffering the death of a child, being harassed and intimidated for trying to speak out. Having these conversations in Mandarin was important not just for capturing nuance and detail but for a sense of empathy.
Continue reading...A new addition to the Christmas scene in artisan shops shows city’s love for footballer
The southern Italian city of Naples usually enjoys a fervent lead-up to Christmas, with one street in particular – Via San Gregorio Armeno – buzzing with people buying handcrafted cribs and terracotta figurines for their nativity scenes at home.
There is also much anticipation each year over which new figurine they can buy. Traditionally, it was a shepherd or an animal that would join baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, but now it is usually a figurine of a personality of that year. Recently crafted statuettes include tributes to doctors and nurses who have worked throughout the pandemic as well as ones of the US president-elect Joe Biden and his deputy, Kamala Harris.
Continue reading...Exclusive: document intended to help prevent future deaths allegedly pulled from website after request
The World Health Organization has been accused of conspiring with the Italian health ministry to remove a report revealing the country’s mismanagement at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic – the publication of which was intended to prevent future deaths.
Italy was the first European country to become engulfed by the pandemic. The report, produced by the WHO scientist Francesco Zambon and 10 colleagues across Europe, was funded by Kuwait’s government with the objective of providing information to countries yet to be hit.
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