Free Republic

Rome (AFP) – Virginia Raggi was elected Sunday as Rome’s first female mayor, exit polls showed, in an electoral triumph for the populist Five Star Movement that represents a major setback for Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Italy's anti-establishment Five Star Movement (5SM) took a large lead in the first round of voting for the mayor of Rome, in a possible blow to prime minister Matteo Renzi. Some 13 million people, or a quarter of the adult population, were eligible to vote for mayors in around 1,300 towns and cities, with attention focused firmly on a handful of major centres, including the capital. Victory in Rome would be a huge breakthrough for anti-establishment 5SM, which was founded in 2009 by comedian Beppe Grillo and has grown to be Italy's second largest party. A victory by the populist...

The Senate has unanimously agreed to promote New York City judge Reena Raggi to the a federal appellate court as it debates what to do with the rest of President Bush's judicial nominees before adjourning for the year. The Democratic-controlled Senate on Friday approved Raggi's nomination on an 85-0 vote. The 51-year-old Raggi will sit on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a former New York U.S. attorney, and has served as a U.S. District Court judge in New York since her nomination by President Reagan in 1987. The 2nd Circuit, based in New York City, covers...