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The Pope and the Baby Killer In 2010, after I had lived in Italy about two years and had begun to understand the byzantine complexities of this country's politics, Emma Bonino decided to run for the office of governor of the region of Lazio. Once I found out what kind of person she was, I was seized with the urge to buy a crate of spray paint and go around Rome writing, "10,000 bambini assassinati non abbastanza per Emma 'la Bicicletta' Bonino," on all her posters. "10,000 murdered babies not enough for Emma 'the bicycle' Bonino." I thought of it...

Starbucks Corp, the world’s biggest coffee chain, said on Sunday that Italian businessman Antonio Percassi would open the first Starbucks cafe in Milan in early 2017, bringing the brand to one of the top coffee-consuming nations in Europe. Under the licensing arrangement, Percassi will own and operate the stores, the company said. Starbucks was started by Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz after a business trip to Milan and Verona that gave him his vision for the chain, Starbucks said.

The European Union fears Mediterranean migrant smuggling gangs are reviving a route from Egypt, officials told Reuters, putting thousands of people to sea in recent months as they face problems in Libya and Turkey. "It's an increasing issue," an EU official said of increased activity after a quiet year among smugglers around Alexandria that has raised particular concerns in Europe about Islamist militants from Sinai using the route to reach Greece or Italy. Departures from Egypt were a tiny part of the million people who arrived in Europe by sea last year; more than 80 percent came from Turkey to...

I went to the most famous battlefield in Western History, and had a surprise. Not a good one. It is a stomp, well off the path, to get to Cannae. The main train lines in Italy run up and down the coasts. Going inland, particularly in southeast Italy, is somewhat more episodic. My train had two cars. At the fourth stop, “Battle”, I got off.

Germany's financial regulator has said it won't take further action against the country's largest bank over alleged interest rate rigging and precious metals price fixing. The moves takes the spotlight off a former boss. The watchdog, known as Bafin, announced on Thursday it had ended several major special audits against Deutsche Bank. [...] Deutsche Bank paid $2.5 billion (2.26 billion euros) in fines in April last year after investigations on manipulating interest rates. The bank was also probed for its role in rigging prices of gold, silver, platinum and palladium. It also recorded a multibillion-euro loss for 2015. Bafin officials...

So, what happened today in the most important chapter of the Cirinna Bill -- the Italian bill establishing civil unions for normal and "same-sex" couples in Italy? After the disastrous papal interview in the flight from Mexico, in which His Holiness all but called the Italian Church to remain silent on the bill (because he would not venture into political matters, though he did exactly that regarding the United States presidential elections in the very same interview), the Bishops backed down, and the conservative group that was holding back the bill in the Senate (led by Catholic Senator Alfano), made...

In a February 8 interview with one of Italy's most prominent dailies, Corriere Della Serra, Pope Francis praised Italy's leading proponent of abortion - Emma Bonino -- as one of the nation's "forgotten greats," comparing her to great historical figures such as Konrad Adenauer and Robert Schuman. Knowing that his praise of her may be controversial, the Pope said that she offered the best advice to Italy on learning about Africa, and admitted she thinks differently from us. "True, but never mind," he said. "We have to look at people, at what they do." At 27, Bonino had an illegal...

Italy's constitutional court has refused to hear a same-sex adoption case involving two American mothers, amid intense debate in Italy over legal recognition of civil unions. [...] Nora Beck, an Italian-American musicologist at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, her wife and their two children moved to Italy in 2013 for a sabbatical year. ...

In June 1495, the Italian historian Niccolo Squillaci wrote a letter describing a horrific disease that was sweeping through Europe. “There are itching sensations, and an unpleasant pain in the joints; there is a rapidly increasing fever,” he wrote. “The skin is inflamed with revolting scabs and is completely covered with swellings and tubercules, which are initially of a livid red color, and then become blacker.” And, tellingly, “It most often begins with the private parts.”

Reining in illegal Arab construction is simply "not a top priority" for the government, according to a statement the state conveyed to the Supreme Court. The state was responding to demands that it carry out demolition orders issued against an illegally built Arab school just outside of Jerusalem. The school's construction was funded by the European Union. The Supreme Court subsequently dismissed the case on Wednesday, rejecting claims by Regavim, an NGO which monitors illegal construction in the Arab sector, that the state is intentionally avoiding enforcement of building laws. ...

Sicily may be part of Italy, but so much of its history, culture, and cuisine are entirely unique from the rest of the country. Treat yourself with a visit to Sicily and your taste buds will be thanking you for the Mediterranean-Adriatic flavor combination found nowhere else in the world. Arancine Translating literally to 'little orange,' arancine are a culinary win all around. They're none too complicated, simply rice balls coated in breadcrumbs and fried, sometimes with a little butter or bolognese thrown into the mix. Heat one of these babies up and bada bing bada boom, you've got yourself...

Kuwait and Italy will finalize a multibillion-euro deal next week for the Gulf state to purchase Eurofighter jets, Kuwait's defense minister has said. Sheikh Khaled Jarrah Al-Sabah did not specify the number of planes involved in the deal but the Eurofighter consortium said in September that Kuwait had agreed to buy 28 fighter jets. 'Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti will visit Kuwait next week to sign the Eurofighter warplanes deal,' Al-Sabah was quoted as saying by the official KUNA news agency

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi rejected on Friday the Roman Catholic Church's interference in a parliamentary debate on legislation that offers homosexual couples legal recognition and limited adoption rights. Renzi spoke a day after the head of the Italian bishops' conference, Angelo Bagnasco, urged the upper house Senate to allow secret balloting when it votes on the bill, arguing this would allow lawmakers to follow their conscience. Italy is the only major Western country that has not yet recognized gay civil unions. "Parliament decides whether or not to allow secret votes......not the head of the bishops' conference," Renzi said during...

According to one source, Clooney loves his estate and the area, but he has received a huge offer for the villa, which he is considering, and "he would buy another, less accessible property in another area of Italy." George Clooney, and his wife Amal, met in private with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday and praised her leadership during the migrant crisis, as rumors circulate that the American actor may sell his luxurious Lake Como property because it isn't isolated enough. Clooney, who was accompanied to the Merkel meeting by former UK foreign secretary David Miliband, told reporters that he...

Japan's Asahi Group Holdings has offered €3.1 billion for two top European lager brands from British giant SABMiller, in what would be the biggest-ever overseas acquisition by a Japanese beer company, a report said on Wednesday. Board members finalised the 400 billion yen proposal on Tuesday for Peroni of Italy and the Netherlands' Grolsch, the leading Nikkei business daily said, without citing sources. The company refused to confirm the report but said in a statement it was "studying a variety of possibilities for a capital and business tie-up, including this case". Nothing has been finalised, it added. Acquiring the brands,...

The six founding nations of the European Union on Tuesday stressed their commitment to seek an "ever closer union" ahead of next week's summit where Britain is expected to seek a new agreement to help convince a skeptical public to remain part of the EU. The foreign ministers of host Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg said in a joint statement Tuesday they reconfirm their "strong commitment to Europe and the European project and invite all other member states to join." ...

DNA evidence lifted from the ancient bones and teeth of people who lived in Europe from the Late Pleistocene to the early Holocene -- spanning almost 30,000 years of European prehistory -- has offered some surprises, according to researchers who report their findings in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on Feb. 4, 2016. Perhaps most notably, the evidence shows a major shift in the population around 14,500 years ago, during a period of severe climatic instability... The researchers pieced this missing history together by reconstructing the mitochondrial genomes of 35 hunter-gatherer individuals who lived in Italy, Germany, Belgium, France,...

Electronic gear shifters on some newer Fiat Chrysler SUVs and cars are so confusing that drivers have exited the vehicles with the engines running and while they are still in gear, causing crashes and serious injuries, U.S. safety investigators have determined. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in documents posted during the weekend, has doubled the number of vehicles involved in an investigation of the problem, but it stopped short of seeking a recall. The agency found more than 100 crashes and over a dozen injuries, mostly in Jeep Grand Cherokees. Agency tests found that operating the centre console shift...

Recent reports suggest that over a thousand converts to Christianity from Islam currently live in Italy, but hide their conversions for fear of retaliation from the Muslim community against themselves and their families.

An Italian actor has been left in a coma after a scene that involved his character being lynched went horribly wrong in front of a live audience. According to a report on The Times, Raphael Schumacher, 27, was accidentally strangled by the rope around his neck and lost consciousness while appearing in the play 'Mirages' at the Teatro Lux in Pisa. He's said to be "seriously ill". Police sealed off the theatre and have launched an investigation into how the stunt went wrong. Schumacher should have been stood on a box and wearing a body harness to ensure he was...