Tag Archives: Italy

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Old divisions resurface in Ukraine as government supporters and opponents clash

May 18, 2013 5:35 pm | Leave a Comment |

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Supporters and opponents of the Ukrainian government have clashed in Kiev as both sides held rival demonstrations. Police intervened as scuffles broke out close to the main opposition rally.

Both sides have been holding demonstrations across Ukraine. This time many people had come to the capital to protest over the economy: the cost of living has soared as pay has failed to keep up with inflation.

But politics runs alongside economic concerns. The opposition again demanded the release of jailed ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko.

They also accuse the ruling party of President Yanukovich of deliberately putting off elections – including for the mayor of Kiev.

“We press on the government to start elections as soon as possible, but look, the Party of Regions is just scared about the elections because they fully realise that they will lose and they are going to fail. And the same will happen with the presidential elections. We need the unity of the opposition forces in order to reach the target,” said Arseniy Yatsenyuk, leader of United Opposition.

The governing party has been on the counter-attack, accusing nationalist opponents from Svoboda in particular of fascism – charges it denies, despite links with various European far-right parties.

For one prominent figure on the government side, there is good reason to worry:

“When people are not allowed to speak other languages, when national holidays are cancelled, when monuments are destroyed, whether we like them or not, I think those are the signs of fascism,” said Serhiy Tigipko, a Party of Regions MP .

The removal of statues of former Soviet leaders Lenin and Stalin has aroused the hostility of many Party of Regions supporters who naturally tilt towards Russia and are nostalgic for Soviet times.

They are also hostile to the critical stance of Ukrainian nationalists towards current Russian policy.

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Nice day for a mass white wedding in Serbia

May 18, 2013 3:32 pm | Leave a Comment |

The first major protest against Italy’s new coalition government has taken place in Rome. Organised by the left-wing Fiom union, its message was that more needs to be done to create jobs. New Prime Minister Enrico Letta, whose centre-left Democratic Party is in a fragile…

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Rome protesters call on Letta government to boost jobs in Italy

May 18, 2013 3:15 pm | Leave a Comment |

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The first major protest against Italy’s new coalition government has taken place in Rome. Organised by the left-wing Fiom union, its message was that more needs to be done to create jobs.

New Prime Minister Enrico Letta, whose centre-left Democratic Party is in a fragile partnership with Berlusconi’s centre-right, stands accused of neglecting a promise to tackle unemployment, and focusing instead on plans to reform property taxes.

“This government needs to break away from what Monti and Berlusconi’s did and focus on new policies. I don’t know if they’ll be able to but that’s what the country needs and that’s why we are here,” said Fiom’s Secretary General, Maurizio Landini.

Italy is stuck in its longest recession for decades and youth unemployment stands at 38 percent.

Letta has set aside 1 billion euros to ensure continued unemployment benefits for workers placed in special temporary redundancy schemes.

Annamaria Parigi, an unemployed metalworker, said:
“The government is passing on the cost of its inaction to workers, pensioners, the unemployed and the desperate. Suicides among those who are out of work or have financial problems are increasing. Those in power now should ask themselves some questions.”

Less than a month after it took office, there is uncertainty over how the government intends to fund its plans, given that it has vowed to stick to its budget targets.

It has to balance its priorities with its pledge to keep Italy’s budget deficit within EU limits of three percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

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Ruby testifies on Berlusconi’s ‘Bung Bunga’ parties

May 17, 2013 12:57 pm | Leave a Comment |

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She is the Moroccan woman at the centre of a sex scandal involving former Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi.

In court, Karima el-Mahroug testified for the first time describing Berlusconi’s
so-called ‘Bung Bunga’ parties. She said a young woman danced while dressed as a Catholic nun and then stripped for the then Prime Minister.

But today’s trial is separate from one in which the 76-year-old is charged with paying for sex with an underage prostitute and covering it up, which he denies.

Away from the media mogul, the trial focused on three of his former aides charged with soliciting Ruby and other women for prostitution.

Nicole Minetti, former show girl turned politician, Italian talent agent Lele Mora and former news programme director, Emilio Fede, the third defendant. All three deny the charges.

Both Berlusconi and Ms el-Mahroug known as ‘Ruby the heart stealer’ deny having had sex. She admits receiving 7,000 euros after a party but claims it was merely a gift.

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Sicily fire horror

May 14, 2013 6:58 pm | Leave a Comment |

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Five people have been injured by fire following a house eviction in Sicily.

The family were reluctant to leave but still talking to the bailiff when suddenly the father poured petrol over himself, his wife and daughter, before setting it alight.

Two policemen were also injured in the incident.

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Neo-Nazi trial makes mockery of security authorities

May 14, 2013 5:30 pm | Leave a Comment |

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Germany has not seen a trial receive this much media attention in decades, not since the 1970s, with the left-wing militant group Red Army Faction. Germans want to know how today’s gang, the dangerous neo-Nazi National Socialist Underground, went undetected for more than a decade.

‘The Nazi girlfriend’ is one of the German media’s labels for the defendant. Her two male accomplices committed suicide.

Lawyers for one victim’s family said: “With its historical, social and political dimensions, the NSU trial is one of the most significant in post-war German history.”

The trio appeared to be a product of 1990s post-reunification unemployment drifting.

Beate Zschaepe is charged with complicity in the shooting of eight Turks – shopkeepers and small business owners – a Greek and a German policewoman in towns across Germany between 2000 and 2007, as well as two bombings in immigrant areas of Cologne and 15 bank robberies.

The attack in Cologne left ten people wounded in 2001 and 22 wounded in 2004. The police did not treat these as racist crimes.

They attributed them to Turkish organised crime. Politicians have accused the intelligence agencies of being “blind in the right eye” and of focusing so much on Islamist groups that they overlooked the threat from the far right.

The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency resigned last year after it emerged that files documenting the use of informers in the far right had been destroyed after the discovery of the NSU.

The German parliament is conducting an inquiry into how the security services failed for so long to link the murders or share information, despite having informers close to the group. As teenagers, the trio were known to authorities to be involved in racist hate crimes and bomb making, but they escaped arrest.

An anti-extreme right activist, Janine Patz, said: “Say good-bye to the idea that it was only three or four people. The right-wing organisation NSU is where all other right-wing organisations in Thuringia originated, even organisations that still exist today, also on party levels.”

The case shows how deep the roots of xenophobia run. A recent study found that extreme right ideas found takers among some 16 percent of people in eastern Germany, seven in western Germany. In 2011, there were estimated to have been more than 23,000 neo-Nazis, 10,000 of them considered dangerous.

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Costa Concordia hearing re-opens

May 14, 2013 3:10 pm | Leave a Comment |

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The pre-trial hearing into the sinking of the cruise liner the Costa Concordia last year has resumed in Italy.

According to his lawyers, Francesco Schettino, who was Captain of the vessel at the time, is depressed due to the media coverage of the case.

He could face various charges relating to the tragedy, including abandoning ship. But Francesco Pepe, one of his lawyers, disputes this.

“We are convinced the charge is absurd because the situation he was in meant it was impossible to remain on board,” he said.

Today’s hearing, being held in a theatre to accommodate the anticipated crowds, was to discuss fast-tracking Schittino and five other defendants, including two officers, to trial.

He wants a twin ship to reconstruct the events leading up to the tragedy.

Thirty two people died in the sinking of the craft, off the eastern coast of Italy in November last year.

It hit a rock which carved a 70-metre gash into its hull.

The Costa Concordia took on water and quickly turned over on its side.

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