Free Republic

Former Italian member of the European Parliament, and leading "intellectual", Gianni Vattimo has caused an explosion of anger in Italy, Israel and beyond for inciting the killing of Israelis and saying Israel was "worse than the Nazis". "Shoot those bastard Zionists," he screamed. Speaking on Italy’s Radio 24, Vattimo said he would like to kill Israelis personally, but couldn't because he didn't know how to shoot. He said that Europeans should club together to get more arms to Hamas so that they could kill more of their opponents. Hamas is a violent anti-Semitic terror group advocating the end of Israel...

Turkey's energy minister has declared a gas pipeline a "peace corridor" linking the Caucasus with the Balkans. "We open the project as a peace corridor that is the result of 15 years hard work by Turkey and Azerbaijan. Through the South Caucasus pipeline and its backbone, the Trans-Anatolia pipeline, we connect the Caucasus with the Balkans. I wish every country could understand the true value of these projects and contribute with us," Taner Yıldız said while speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of the South Caucasus pipeline in Baku on Sept. 20. The minister said energy security "ranks as one of...

The OECD has drastically cut its growth forecast for Italy. The depression will drag on though most of 2015. The economy will contract by 0.4pc this year. It will remain stuck in the doldrums next year with growth of just 0.1pc. If so, Italy’s public debt will spiral to dangerous levels next year, ever further beyond the point of no return for a country without its own sovereign currency and central bank. “This is catastrophic for the finances of the country. We’re heading for a debt ratio of 145pc next year,” said Antonio Guglielmi, global strategist for Mediobanca. “Who knows...

Two loud sonic booms were heard at around 1.45PM LT in Central Italy as two Italian Air Force Typhoons accelerated to supersonic speed to intercept Middle East Airlines 214 flight, an Airbus 320 from Geneva to Beirut. The two fighter planes, belonging to the 4° Stormo (Wing) from Grosseto, in QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) service round the clock together with those of the 36° Stormo from Gioia del Colle, were dispatched to intercept the Lebanese plane that, once flying over Bari, in southeastern Italy, radioed the Italian Air Traffic Control the request to land at Rome Fiumicino airport, because of...

NEW YORK — Kim Kardashian and Kanye West aren't the only ones who tied the knot this year in Italy. So did Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka. The "How I Met Your Mother" star and his actor-chef groom were married Saturday in Italy. They'd been dating for 10 years and are parents to 3-year-old twins, Gideon and Harper. The grooms wore custom Tom Ford tuxedos and Elton John performed at the reception.

It's been all over the Italian media today - the bishop of Imola, Tommaso Ghirelli, writes an editorial for his diocesan paper in which the message is clear: "do-goodism" will bury Italy and Europe. Either Muslims in traditionally Christian countries in Europe behave as "honourable men" and publicly denounce Islamic "persecutions and acts of cruelty," or they should rather be "courageous" enough to own up to their beliefs "and leave our country," because "nobody wants enemies in their own home."

The debate over Germany’s insistence on eurozone austerity has flared anew as an ailing France continues to demand economic stimulus. The European Central Bank may now be siding with Paris, leaving Merkel looking increasingly alone. […] Berlin is particularly alarmed by the stance taken by ECB head Mario Draghi. At the annual conference of top central bankers from around the world at Jackson Hole, Wyoming in August, Draghi surprised those present by saying “there is leeway to achieve a more growth-friendly composition of fiscal policies.” It was a comment that came close to the kind of debt-fueled growth stimulus measures...

Sorry Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon and Sandra Bullock, President Obama won’t be joining you in Italy for George Clooney’s wedding to Amal Alamuddin.

In late November 2012, while Matteo Renzi was making an ill-fated bid for leadership of the Italian centre-left, a young MP from his Democratic Party (PD) piped up on Twitter to remark: "OK, Renzi has quite a lot to learn about foreign policy … He won't make the pass mark, I fear #thirdgrade." When he won the PD primaries the following winter, Renzi – canny as ever – hired his sharp-tongued critic as the party's spokesperson on Europe and international affairs. Once prime minister, he ushered her into the top job at Italy's foreign office. Now, the shoe is firmly...

European Union leaders on Saturday picked Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini, to become the 28-nation bloc’s top diplomat for the next five years. The decision comes as the crisis at the EU’s eastern border pitting Ukraine against Russia poses one of the biggest foreign policy challenges for the bloc in decades. […] Mogherini, a 41-year-old center-left politician, has been Italy’s foreign minister only since February, drawing criticism that she lacks experience. A first attempt to secure Mogherini’s nomination in June failed amid resistance from eastern European leaders. …

Today there are reports that ISIS is targeting Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church. CBS Local reported: A new report claims that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is targeting Pope Francis — a report that the Vatican says is simply not true. According to Il Tempo, Israeli sources reportedly told the Italian newspaper that the pope is “in the crosshairs of ISIS.” The report stated that Francis is being targeted because he is “the greatest exponent of the Christian religions” and the “bearer of false truth.” The Vatican, though, denounced the report.

WASHINGTON — The international effort to help Iraqis fight Islamic militants is heating up, with seven additional countries agreeing to provide arms to the Kurdish peshmerga forces. Albania, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Italy and the U.K. have committed to giving weapons and equipment to the embattled Kurds, the Pentagon announced Tuesday. The announcement comes about two weeks after Hagel set up a working group to find ways to accelerate arms deliveries to the Kurds. The Defense Department said the materiel is “urgently needed” as the Kurds take on the militant group known as the Islamic State, which has taken over...

Italy Steps Up Security Over Alleged ISIS Plot Against The Pope Vatican scoffs at threats that Pope Francis is “in the cross hairs” of ISIS as Italy issues a terrorist threat and tightens security. VATICAN CITY — As Pope Francis continues to straddle the fine line between calling for the end of persecution of Christians in Iraq and blessing American airstrikes against the Islamic State (also known as the “Caliphate,” ISIS, or ISIL), there is increasing concern for the pontiff’s—and the public’s—safety. Earlier this week, the Roman newspaper Il Tempo published a disturbing report that Francis is “in the crosshairs” of...

A small but significant story comes from Italy. Adel Smith, born in Alexandria, Egypt, son of an Italian father and Egyptian mother and living in Ofena, a little town in the central Italian region of Abruzzi, has just died at 54 from a serious illness. The reason why he is remembered is his constant attacks against Christianity, which this Muslim man probably believed to be an easy target in the current secularist climate. In 2003, his intolerance for Christian objects in public buildings prompted him to request the removal of all Christian symbols, including crosses, from the primary school...

Italy to give anti-tank weapons to Kurds News / Kurdistan Italy to Arm Peshmerga with Anti-Tank Weapons 21.08.2014 Mewan Dolamari BasNews, Erbil   Italian Defense Minister announced that besides machine guns formerly used by Italy’s military, their government has decided to give anti-tank weapons to Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Region.   Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti promised also that the arrival of the weapons would be monitored ’to control that the arms get where they are supposed to go.’   Italy’s decision falls in line with a number of other countries who have also sent dozens of tons...

The Archbishop of Ferrara-Comacchio, Luigi Negri, has likened the proposed Italian laws against “homophobia” to a reemergence of fascism and the "dark times of state ideology" in Italy. The archbishop warned that the bill which proposes to criminalize “homophobia,” will introduce "for the first time since the end of fascism 70 years ago, a crime of opinion that evokes the dark and troubled times, long subdued and always believed to be over, of state ideologies. "Times in which the State identified ideological positions which it forcibly imposed, and suppressed all those which did not match," he added. "In defending a...

ANOTHER weekend, another two thousand-odd immigrants rescued by Italian sailors and coastguards in the Mediterranean. On August 11th the San Giusto, an amphibious transport vessel, landed 1,698 people in Reggio Calabria, a city in southern Italy. The day before, a naval patrol vessel and a frigate disembarked 364 people at ports in eastern Sicily. The number of people arriving in Italy by sea this year may already exceed 100,000. By the end of July approximately 93,000 migrants had been rescued. The previous record for an entire year was set in 2011 when around 60,000 people reached Italian shores at the...

An Italian gossip magazine has sparked outrage after its latest edition was released with a free book containing jokes about gay people. The controversial giveaway, entitled “The Best Gay Jokes”, was attached to the latest edition of the weekly Italian gossip magazine Visto, La Stampa reported. Published in 2012 and ordinarily priced at €4.99, the book is part of a joke book series which also includes sexist jokes and jokes about Jews by Jews, among other taboo subjects. …

Two female Italian aid workers have been kidnapped by Islamist militants in northern Syria. Greta Ramelli, 20, and Vanessa Marzullo, 21, were working on humanitarian projects in the embattled city of Aleppo the Italian foreign ministry said, admitting that contact with the women is 'impossible'. Today Salvatore Marzullo, the father of Vanessa, spoke of his 'sickening' fear for his daughter's safety, as Italy's deputy foreign minister said the country is working 'belly to the ground' to find them

Bill Gates doesn’t slum it when it comes to his vacations. The world's richest man has been photographed enjoying quality family time aboard an extravagant $330 million yacht. The Microsoft founder has been pictured on “The Serene,” a stunning 450-foot boat he’s renting from Stolichnaya vodka magnate Yuri Scheffler for a cool $5 million per week. Moored off the coast of Sardinia, it reportedly has 12 state rooms, a seawater swimming pool, a cinema, a nightclub, a climbing wall, a gym and two hot tubs.