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As Italy's Banks Tighten Lending, Desperate Firms Call on the Mafia
The Washington Post. When the bills started piling up and the banks wouldn't lend, the white-haired art dealer in the elegant tweed jacket said he drove to the outskirts of Rome and knocked on the rusty steel door of a shipping container. A beefy man named Mauro answered. He wore blue overalls with two big pockets, one stuffed with checks and the other with cash. The wad of bills he handed over, the art dealer recalled, reeked of the man's cologne and came at 120 percent annual interest. (Read the article by Mary Jordan)
Italian Government Curtails Transport Strikes
REUTERS. Italy's centre-right government moved on Friday to restrict transport strikes, drawing an immediate rebuke from one of the country's biggest unions.The cabinet approved a bill to require support of at least half the workforce to call transport strikes after the country endured hundreds of stoppages in the sector last year, many of them in protest at the sale of the airline Alitalia.
"There can be no ambiguity about the right to strike and Berlusconi is taking a path which is dangerous for democracy and freedom and may harm relations between companies and workers," CGIL union boss Guglielmo Epifani said. The government says its aim is not to deprive unions of the right to strike but to ensure that crippling transport strikes are only carried out if there is majority support from workers in a sector or company, respecting rules that limit disruption. (Read the Article)
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Italy Returns Orthodox Church to Russia
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE. Italy is returning ownership to Russia of an Orthodox church named after St. Nicholas in a goodwill gesture toward Moscow and the Orthodox faithful. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev traveled to the southern Italian city of Bari for the hand-over ceremony later Sunday, which aims to boost ties between the two countries as well as improve often tense Roman Catholic-Russian Orthodox relations.
Russia built the church in the early 20th century to welcome its pilgrims who traveled to Bari to pray near the relics of Nicholas of Myra, a fourth-century saint associated with Christmas and much revered by Russian Orthodox faithful. (Read the Article)
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Galileo's Finger to be Displayed in Italy
SIFI NEWS. One of Galileo Galilei’s fingers, which is the only remaining part of the 17th century astronomer’s body, is to go on display in Italy. According to a report in the Telegraph, the finger, which is the middle digit from Galileo’s right hand, is mounted on a marble base and encased in a crystal jar. It will be among 250 objects which will go on display in Florence as part of an exhibition entitled ‘Galileo: Images of the Universe from Antiquity to the Telescope,’ which opens next month in Florence. (Read the Article)
In Italy Desperate Firms Call on Mafia
WASHINGTON POST. At a time when businesses most need loans as they struggle with falling sales, rising debt and impending bankruptcy, banks have tightened their lending to them. That is great news for loan sharks. Confesercenti, the national shopkeepers association, estimates that 180,000 businesses recently have turned to them in desperation. (Read the Article by Mary Jordan)
February 28, 2009
LaVeritàLaVerdadTheTruth
La vera leggenda di Tony Vilar (2006), Giuseppe Gagliardi, dir.
Giuseppe Gagliardi’s film La vera leggenda di Tony Vilar is a musical journey tracing the circuitous routes of the Italian diaspora.
La filantropia italo-americana alla Montclair State University
Nata da un sogno la cattedra "Theresa and Lawrence R. Inserra Endowed in Italian and Italian-American Studies" è oggi una realtà grazie all’impegno congiunto delle principali associazioni Italo-Americane negli USA.
“Manhunters”. Alla caccia dei fuggitivi ci pensa un italo-americano
Il dramma nella reality di un poliziotto italo-americano star di “Manhunters”
An Italian Garden at the Next Philadelphia’s Flower Show
The 2009 edition of the Philadelphia Flower Show will celebrate Italian culture with a reconstruction of Italian gardens
La primavera a Philadelphia ha i fiori dell'Italia
Il più grande Flower Show nel mondo celebrerà, il 3 marzo, il Made in Italy con un omaggio ai giardini italiani
Silvio Berlusconi tells Nicolas Sarkozy he 'gave' him his wife Carla Bruni
Telegraph. Italy's gaffe-prone premier has been caught out joking to French president Nicolas Sarkozy that he "gave" him his Italian-born wife, Carla Bruni. (Read the article by Nick Squires)
Death probe for coma-case father
BBC. A woman who was at the centre of a right to die battle. Her father, Beppino Englaro, 67, is one of 14 people named in the inquiry by prosecutors in north-eastern Italy's Udine region. The others include her Eluana's anaesthetist and other members of her medical team. The investigation was brought about by a suit launched by a pro-life group calling itself the Truth and Life Committee. (Read the article)
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