s criminal laws, but the punishment in case of a conviction is ordinarily less stringent than under the piracy law. Nevertheless, the new Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, made it clear on Monday that the issue would remain a priority for his government, saying that he had made two "symbolic telephone calls" to the marines as one of his first acts as premier since his swearing-in on Saturday. The...
The 2014 edition of the Venice carnival is entitled ‘wonder and fantasy nature’ and runs from 15 February to 4 March ...
non-ostentatious elegance' Giorgio Armani, who showed his mainline collection on Monday, entitled Fade to Grey, is the unofficial headmaster of Milan fashion week. Even those who might criticise his collections for their lack of kapow! trends – which the designer famously eschews as mere marketing tricks – would find it hard to argue against the 79-year-old billionaire as the elder statesman of Italian...
s new PM will have to prove his changes are more than cosmetic and create real equality – and real jobs – in the country There are two striking novelties about the new Italian government formed by Matteo Renzi at the weekend: its gender balance and its age. Never before have half of Italian cabinet ministers been women and the average age – 48 – been so low. The paradox is that Italy is still the most...
Photographs from the Guardian Eyewitness series ...
s new prime minister, Matteo Renzi ( President invites Renzi to form Italian government , 18 February). More concerning is the task which could face Mr Renzi: succeeding where many others have failed and turning round an economy which has shrunk 9% in the past six years. It is tempting at such times to think that Italian politicians, whether left or right, are essentially incompetent – and, in some...
s prized red biretta. Speaking in St Peter's basilica a day after he created 19 new cardinals, the Argentinean pontiff strictly exhorted the men to reject the habits of a royal court that have in recent years come to be associated with parts of the Roman curia, or Vatican bureaucracy. Looking up from his notes to address the massed ranks of cardinals, he told them: "A cardinal – I say this especially...
t trust his face," said Danielle Barrese, 23, a trainee chef from Calabria. "And I don't trust any promises made to young people in this country." Renzi, who triggered a generational shift in Italian politics on Saturday when, aged 39, he became Italy's youngest prime minister, has made bold promises to give work back to the country's chronically underemployed youth. But the staggeringly popular Renzi...
Renzi will be sworn in as Italy’s youngest prime minister on Saturday at the head of another broad coalition ...
s supreme court delayed a decision on trying two Italian marines held since 2012. Italy's foreign minister, Emma Bonino, said in a statement on Tuesday the "latest unacceptable" delay proved India was "incapable of handling this situation". The marines have been held since 2012 over the deaths of two Indian fishermen. They were part of a military security team on an Italian cargo ship and fired at...
t unique: news and entertainment have fought each other on the airwaves and in print for generations in every media market. But in Italy, big-business media acquisitions - particularly under the guidance of media mogul and disgraced former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi - have concentrated the powers of mass distraction into the hands of a very few. Ask an Italian what is going on outside the country's...
s backing, he will become Italy's youngest prime minister The Italian president, Giorgio Napolitano , asked the mayor of Florence, Matteo Renzi , to form a new government on Monday – the economically troubled country's third in two years. If he can pull together a coalition that wins the backing of parliament, Renzi, 39, will become Italy's youngest ever prime minister. Emerging from a 90-minute discussion...
s communications minister, Redwan Hussein, adding that Ethiopia will seek his extradition. Geneva police said he claimed he felt threatened at home. "His action represents a gross betrayal of trust that needlessly endangered the lives of the very passengers that a pilot is morally and professionally obliged to safeguard," Redwan said. One passenger, Francesco Cuomo, told the Italian news agency ANSA...
s "unfair, cumbersome and misleading" practice of opting customers in to buying its travel insurance as default. Those wishing not to buy insurance from the Irish airline have to select a "No Grazie" option nestling between Malta and Norway in a drop-down list of countries of residence. EasyJet said it was disappointed that the authority had decided to fine it for the way it sold travel insurance....
The stimulus policy of Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is under scrutiny after disappointing growth figures. Jennifer Rankin Nick Fletcher ...
Matteo Renzi, leader of Italy's Democratic party, speaks to the media after being asked to form a new government by President Giorgio Napolitano ...
s brother and sister tell BBC 'it is very difficult to keep her memory alive' during media frenzy over convictions The family of Meredith Kercher, the British student murdered in Perugia, Italy, have said she has been forgotten in the media frenzy over the convictions of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. Knox, a US student, and her then boyfriend Sollecito, from Italy, were found guilty of Kercher's...
Never-before-heard audio from Amanda Knox's interrogation by Italian police has been released, ahead of a documentary exploring her role in the murder of Meredith Kercher ...
s president to form a new government on Monday after he orchestrated a party revolt to oust the prime minister, Enrico Letta. The Democratic party (PD) chief, who will become Italy's youngest ever prime minister if he is able to form a government, will meet the head of state, Giorgio Napolitano, at the presidential palace at 10.30am local time. On Sunday he was warned he must listen to the demands...
m not sure if we can know for sure if Knox and Sollecito are guilty; but we are certainly guilty of allowing deep-seated resentments to fuel desires for one verdict or another The jury's in on Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito – their conviction for the murder of Meredith Kercher has been reinstated – but the rest of the world had already made its made its mind up. Public opinion (insofar as it's...