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A deadly plague haunts Venice, and it’s not the cholera to which Thomas Mann’s character Gustav von Aschenbach succumbed in the Nobel laureate’s 1912 novella “Death in Venice.” A rapacious tourist monoculture threatens Venice’s existence, decimating the historic city and turning the Queen of the Adriatic into a Disneyfied shopping mall. Millions of tourists pour into Venice’s streets and canals each year, profoundly altering the population and the economy, as many native citizens are banished from the island city and those who remain have no choice but to serve in hotels, restaurants and shops selling glass souvenirs and carnival masks.

ASCOLI PIECENO, Italy – In the chaos of Italy's devastating earthquake, an older sister's embrace allowed a four-year-old girl to survive. The heartbreaking story of Giulia Rinaldo, 9, and her 4-year-old sister Giorgia was recounted Saturday by the bishop who celebrated a funeral Mass for 35 of the 290 people killed by the quake that ravaged central Italy before dawn Wednesday. Bishop Giovanni D'Ercole recalled that around 6 or 6:30 p.m. Wednesday — 15 hours after the quake — he returned to a church in his diocese in the town of Pescara Del Tronto to recover its crucifix. He said...

Israel Earthquake Search, Rescue Team Arrives In Italy By Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyJerusalem, Israel — August 26, 2016 … IsraAID has arrived at Italy’s earthquake epicenter with a 20 member team of Search and Rescue, Relief and Trauma Specialists. IsraAID is an Israeli-based humanitarian aid agency that responds to emergency crises and engages in international development around the world. The Israeli search and rescue team wears blue and orange. IsraAID was able to send the rescue team thanks to the support of The Ted Arison Family Foundation. The death toll in earthquake ravaged Italy is climbing slowly, and it...

UPDATE: ROME, Aug 24 (Reuters) - The earthquake that struck central Italy on Wednesday has killed at least 159 people, the country's civil protection agency said, raising a previous count of 124. The search for bodies is continuing through the night, authorities said. EARLIER STORY: An earthquake flattened towns in central Italy in the early hours of Wednesday, killing at least 120 people and burying some alive in their sleep, with volunteers and firefighters racing to free those trapped under mounds of rubble as darkness fell. The quake razed mountain homes and buckled roads in a cluster of communities some...

There is no compromise in My Kingdom for I AM THE WORD ETERNAL therefore I AM both Provider and the lover of your soul. I know the plans I have for you and there is no need for you to compromise with the evil one for he has already been judged by me as un-righteous therefore remain in My will and in My WORD for it is your rudder and key to open each door I have set before you and it is My Spirit that moves these doors as you declare My will in your life. So come and...

ACCUMOLI, Italy (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake devastated a string of mountainous towns in central Italy on Wednesday, trapping residents under piles of rubble, killing at least 38 people and leaving thousands homeless.The quake struck in the early hours of the morning when most residents were asleep, razing homes and buckling roads in a cluster of communities some 140 km (85 miles) east of Rome.A family of four, including two boys aged 8 months and 9 years, were buried when their house in Accumoli imploded. As rescue workers carried away the body of the infant, carefully covered by a small...

The scale of the devastating Italian earthquake was laid bare this morning as shocking pictures and terrifying eyewitness accounts revealed how four towns were almost wiped off the map in just a matter of seconds. At least 63 people were killed, including two babies, and 150 people are missing, believed to be trapped under rubble after the 6.2-magnitude quake struck at 3.30am local time while villagers slept in their beds. Today rescuers spoke of hearing children's screams from the rubble and locals were spotted frantically digging with their bare hands to try and save loved ones. The quake which devastated...

A magnitude 6.2 earthquake has struck central Italy, leaving at least six people dead and others trapped under rubble, Italian officials said. The quake hit at 03:36 (01:36 GMT), 76 km (47 miles) southeast of the city of Perugia, at the very shallow depth of 10km (six miles), the USGS said. The mayor of one town told Italian radio that "half the town is gone". In Rome, some buildings shook for 20 seconds, according to La Repubblica newspaper. A family of four had been found under rubble in the town of Accumoli, the town's mayor Stefano Petrucci told RAI TV.

Whether or not President Obama wants to publicly admit that he is harming the security of the United States, the proof is in the pudding. Fox News reported last Saturday that a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner released by Obama was arrested recently after being identified as a top recruiter for ISIS. According to Fox News:

Shallow - may have caused considerable damage. Map

The leaders of Germany, France and Italy will meet on Monday to discuss how to keep the European project together in the second set of talks between the premiers of the eurozone’s three largest economies since Britain’s shock vote to leave the bloc. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi hosts German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on an island off the coast of Naples ahead of September’s EU summit called to discuss reverberations from the Brexit vote. “They will be coming to discuss how to relaunch Europe from the bottom up; there’s a big need,” Renzi said on...

Leader of Muslim group says there is 'no reason' for polygamy not to be permitted now that same-sex unions have been legalisedThe leader of the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy has said there is “no reason” for polygamy not to be legalised after the Italian government passed a law to recognise the union of same-sex civil unions. In a Facebook status, Hamza Piccardo wrote: “There’s no reason for Italy not to accept polygamous marriages of consenting persons. “When it comes to civil rights here, then polygamy is a civil right. Muslims don’t agree with homosexual partnership and still they...

Libyan authorities have informed Italy an Islamic State cell linked to veteran jihadi Abu Nassim has formed in Milan. Italian media reported Sunday documents left behind after a raid in the Libyan city of Sirte contained information on ISIS’s activities in Italy. The reports further the Italian worry that ISIS militants sail from Libya to Italy posing as refugees. (RELATED: Defeated ISIS Fighters May Sail To Europe Posing As Refugees, Italy Warns) Abu Nassim, whose real name is Moez Ben Abdelkader Fezzani, is believed to have close ties to the newly-formed cell in Milan.

Libyan authorities have warned Italy about an ISIS cell based in the Milan area with links to one of the extremist group’s battle-hardened veterans, Italian media reported Sunday. The existence of the network was reportedly revealed by documents seized by Libyan agents after government forces took over an ISIS headquarters in the city of Sirte earlier this week. The Italy-based militants were said to be associates of Abu Nassim, 47, a Tunisian who lived in Italy for most of his 20s and subsequently fought in Afghanistan and Syria, before becoming an ISIS commander in Libya. …

If parliamentarian Elvira Savino has her way, Italian parents who insist on a vegan diet for their children will risk up to four years in jail. Savino, from the conservative Forza Italia party, has put forward a law that would hold parents legally responsible for feeding their children on "a diet devoid of elements essential for healthy and balanced growth," according to its text. "I have nothing against vegans or veganism as long as it is a free choice by adults," she told Reuters on Wednesday, days after she presented the proposed law in the lower house Chamber of Deputies.

As other migratory routes north have closed, migrants have converged on the Italian city of Milan, in what Italian press are describing as an “invasion” of thousands of migrants and fear of thousands more. In past weeks, caravans of migrants who arrive in southern Italy have made their way north, only to find their progress halted by tight borders with France, Austria and Switzerland. The result has been a growing migrant population forming in such areas as Lake Como, Ventimiglia and now the Italian industrial capital of Milan.

The Italian government believes Mafiosi have infiltrated the local administration of Corleone, the Sicilian town which inspired the fictional crime clan’s name in “The Godfather” novel and movie. Premier Matteo Renzi’s Cabinet on Wednesday dissolved Corleone’s municipal government and put its City Hall under temporary control of the interior ministry. …

Italy fears "another Calais" on its border with France as desperate migrants and refugees are thwarted in their bid to cross the frontier and reach northern Europe. Tighter border controls by the French authorities have created a bottleneck around the Italian town of Ventimiglia, just a few miles from the French border. The Italians are trying to transfer migrants and refugees to reception centres in other parts of the country in order to prevent the development of ramshackle camps such as the notorious 'Jungle' in Calais and the tent village that sprung up earlier this year at Idomeni, along the...

Following the introduction of civil partnerships, Muslim representatives in Italy are now demanding the legalisation of polygamy. Responding to a new law allowing same sex couples to enter civil unions, Hamza Piccardo argued that if gay relationships, which Muslims disagree with, are a civil right then Italians must accept polygamy as a civil right too. The founder of the Union of Islamic Communities and Organisations (UCOII) in Italy took to Facebook to claim polygamy is a “civil right” and that Italy would benefit from the large number of Muslim births it would promote.

You "ARE" forgiven forever whether others forgive you or hold onto their guile "I" have forever set you free for I AM GOD and not man . So now walk in my forgiveness and take hold of this freedom and just fly for the Heavenlies "ARE REAL" and Zion is yours "Today" for you "ARE" seated with Me in Heavenly places even NOW ! Galatians 5:1 Walk by the Spirit 5 It was for this freedom that Christ set us free [completely liberating us]; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery [which...