ROME, June 3 Italian banks will offer up to 1.6 billion euros ($2.29 billion) of cheap credit to the tourism sector as the government tries to double its contribution to the economy, This was announced by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday. “Our objective is for tourism to account for 20 percent of gross domestic [...]
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(ANSA) – Brussels, April 21 – Italy has carried out 670 search and rescue operations in waters controlled by Malta since the beginning of 2007, according to a dossier Italy presented to the European Commission in a dispute between the two countries Tuesday. Italy reiterated in the dossier that Turkish freighter Pinar with 240 migrants [...]
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(ANSA) – Rome, April 21 – Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Tuesday that laws on assisting illegal immigrants “must be respected“ after Italy was forced to rescue seaborne migrants that Malta refused. Around 140 Africans were left stranded on a Turkish freighter which had rescued them from the sea as both Italy and Malta denied [...]
Continue reading about MIGRANT ASSISTANCE RULES `IGNORED` FRATTINI
(ANSA) – Rome, April 21 – The Colosseum is in an unacceptable state and restoration work should begin on it as soon as possible, Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno said on Tuesday as the city celebrated its 2,762th birthday. The mayor told Culture Undersecretary Francesco Giro he hoped the restoration of the ancient Roman monument would [...]
Continue reading about COLOSSEUM NEEDS TO BE RESTORED ROME MAYOR SAYS
(ANSA) – Rome, April 21 – Italy showed foresight in boycotting the United Nations Durban Review Conference on Racism in Geneva, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Tuesday. “We foresaw everything: we were farsighted; what we imagined would happen did happen,“ the premier said after an unprecedented walk-out on Monday in protest at Iranian President Mahmoud [...]
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(ANSA)- Rome, April 21 – There has been no ransom request for the Italian tugboat Buccaneer seized off northern Somalia and which local officials say was transporting toxic waste, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told parliament on Tuesday. Addressing the House`s Security Committee, Frattini reiterated that the Buccaneer was not carrying toxic waste to dump [...]
Continue reading about FRATTINI SAYS PHOTOS PROVE SEIZED SHIP WAS `EMPTY`
Silvio Berlusconi appears with a giant pair of wings and little else in a new work of art, an equally scantily clad female minister next to him in the composition that is creating a sensation. “I did it as a joke!” the artist, Filippo Panseca, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “I’ve been doing all [...]
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(ANSA) – Rome, March 17 – The United Nations will be setting a “very bad example“ if organisers of a controversial anti-racism conference do not accept a new draft document backed by the European Union, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Tuesday. EU foreign ministers on Monday put their weight behind a new Dutch proposal for [...]
Continue reading about UN COULD SET `BAD EXAMPLE` IN RACISM MEET ROW
(ANSA) – Milan, March 17 – Restoration work on The Marriage of the Virgin, one of Raphael`s most celebrated paintings, has been completed and the Renaissance masterpiece will be on show in its usual place at the Brera Museum later this week. Curators at the Milan museum said the painting, which has undergone several renovations [...]
Continue reading about RAPHAEL`S MARRIAGE OF THE VIRGIN BACK ON SHOW AT BRERA
(ANSA) – Rome, March 17 – Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday dismissed reports he felt “lonely“ after the media suggested he had been hurt by a barrage of criticism for having lifted the excommunication of four ultra-traditionalist bishops whose society broke with Rome over the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Speaking to journalists [...]
Continue reading about POPE SAYS HE IS NOT LONELY LAUGHS ABOUT `MYTH OF SOLITUDE`
