A quake triggered by Mount Etna’s ongoing eruption jolted eastern Sicily before dawn Wednesday, slightly injuring 10 people and prompting frightened Italian villagers to flee their homes. Continue reading →
{FD} Pope’s Christmas wish: World fraternity despite differences
Pope Francis offered a Christmas wish for fraternity among people of different faiths, races or ideas, describing the world’s differences as a richness, not a danger, and calling for political solutions to end wars in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere. Continue reading →
{FD} 6 dead, dozens hurt in nightclub stampede on Italy’s coast
A stampede at a rapper’s concert at a crowded disco on Italy’s central Adriatic coast killed five young teenagers and a woman who had accompanied her daughter to the event early Saturday, said police, who put the number of injured at 59. Carabinieri pa… Continue reading →
{FD} Italian president calls WWI a warning to Europe to co-exist
Italy’s president lamented World War I’s roots in “aggressive nationalism” and held up the European Union on Sunday as the “highest expression” of a commitment to common good needed to prevent catastrophic military conflicts. Continue reading →
{FD} Storms, floods in Sicily kill at least 10 people; 2 missing
Rainstorms lashing Sicily have killed at least 10 people, Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte said before heading Sunday for the stricken Mediterranean island. Continue reading →
{FD} Italy tightens eligibility for migrant protection
Italy on Monday tightened criteria for migrants receiving humanitarian protection as its populist government deepened its crackdown on those seeking asylum. Continue reading →
{FD} Spain saves some 440 migrants; new crackdown on rescue boat
Spain’s maritime rescue service said Sunday it rescued more than 400 people from 15 small boats, most of them off the country’s southern coast, while humanitarian groups lamented that the sole private rescue boat operating near the deadly central Medit… Continue reading →
{FD} Vatican announces deal with China on bishop appointments
The Vatican on Saturday announced it had signed a “provisional agreement” with China on the appointment of bishops, a breakthrough on an issue that for decades fueled tensions between the Holy See and Beijing and thwarted efforts toward diplomatic rela… Continue reading →
{FD} Pope lets more bishops go as part of Chile sex abuse fallout
Pope Francis on Friday accepted the resignations of two more bishops in Chile, as fallout mounted from widespread sex abuse scandals there. Continue reading →
{FD} Pope’s remedy to those seeking scandal: prayer and silence
Pope Francis on Monday recommended silence and prayer to deal with those who “only seek scandal,” division and destruction in what appeared to be an indirect response to allegations that he had covered up for a U.S. cardinal embroiled in sex abuse scan… Continue reading →
{FD} Pope decries “emergency” of plastics blighting world’s seas
Pope Francis on Saturday called for concrete action to combat the “emergency” of plastics littering seas and oceans, lamenting the lack of effective regulation to protect the world’s waters. Continue reading →
{FD} Italy: Catholic leaders reject politics at migrants’ expense
Italy’s Catholic bishops offered to care for a majority of 140 migrants the country’s government had prevented from leaving an Italian coast guard ship docked for days in a Sicilian harbor because politics shouldn’t be practiced at the expense of the p… Continue reading →
{FD} Concern grows for 150 migrants stuck on ship for 10th day
Concerns mounted Saturday about the medical and psychological health of 150 migrants who were spending their 10th day stuck aboard an Italian coast guard ship while the government insists that other European Union nations must take them. Continue reading →
{FD} Migrants aboard Italian coast guard ship begin hunger strike
Many of the 150 migrants stranded aboard a coast guard ship for a ninth day began a hunger strike Friday out of frustration that Italy won’t let them disembark in Sicily unless fellow European Union nations first pledge to take them, authorities said, … Continue reading →
{FD} Italian rights guarantor boards migrant ship blocked in port
A delegation from the office of Italy’s guarantor of personal rights boarded a coast guard ship docked at a Sicilian port on Thursday, to evaluate the plight of 150 asylum-seekers rescued a week ago but forced to stay onboard by the nation’s staunchly … Continue reading →
{FD} Quakes rock southern Italy, alarmed people sleeping outdoors
At least nine earthquakes rocked southern Italy in two hours Thursday night, prompting frightened residents to sleep outdoors for safety and a child to hurt himself when he leaped in fear from a balcony. Continue reading →
{FD} Vatican in ‘shame and sorrow’ over abuses in Pennsylvania
The Vatican expressed “shame and sorrow” Thursday over a scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report about clergy who raped and molested children in six dioceses in that state, calling the abuse “criminally and morally reprehensible” and says Pope Francis … Continue reading →
{FD} Rescuers comb concrete and steel after bridge collapse
Rescuers in Italy searched on Wednesday for a second day through tons of broken concrete and twisted steel for any more survivors and bodies after the collapse of a highway bridge in Genoa which killed at least 37 people. Continue reading →
{FD} Police say Sicily gangsters crushed limbs in insurance fraud
Sicilian gangsters dropped 25-kilo (55-pound) cast-iron weights on the limbs of drug addicts, alcoholics and other vulnerable people to obtain insurance payments for fake car accidents worth hundreds of thousands of euros, police said Wednesday after m… Continue reading →
{FD} Italy: Black athlete’s injury among cases probed for racism
A black Italian athlete was wounded in the eye when an egg was hurled at her Monday, the latest of at least nine attacks since Italy’s anti-migrant government took power that are being investigated as possible acts of racism. Continue reading →
