Italy

Italy earthquake: modern buildings, not ancient ones, pose biggest threat (+video)

The Italy earthquake suggests that danger lies not so much in ancient monuments as in the many buildings constructed between the late 1940s and the early 1970s.
Northeast Italy shaken by biggest quake there since the 1300s

The 6.0-magnitude temblor left at least four dead and cracked bell towers, crumbled church facades, and caved in roofs in the region around Bologna early Sunday.
Global News Blog
Italian museum sets its art on fire to protest lack of government funding

Contending that it would be 'destroyed anyway' because there is no money for preservation work, the Casoria Contemporary Art Museum is burning a piece of its contemporary art collection every day.
Global News Blog
In Milan, more residents answer to Hu than Ferrari

A list of the most common names in Milan revealed the extent to which immigration has changed the character of the business-oriented city. 
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Italy goes big to save Venice as it sinks into the sea

A multibillion-dollar flood-prevention system will be put in place starting next year, a decade after the project began.
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Did Caravaggio meet a grisly end - with the Vatican's complicity?

Citing documents from the Vatican Secret Archives, an Italian historian argues that 17th-century documents reveal Renaissance artist Caravaggio was assassinated by the Knights of Malta.
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Rome cracks down on marauding centurions

The city has given a deadline of April 6 for the tourist terrors to clear away from the Colosseum area.
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Why an Italian lawmaker's phone call trumps Obama's speech

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti's decision to take a call from an Italian lawmaker during President Barack Obama's speech highlights the tentativeness of his claim to authority.
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Famed Venice view goes commercial

Residents disagree over plans to convert a 500-year-old palazzo into a department store in Venice, Italy.
To reboot Italy's economy, Monti takes on the cabbies

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has made liberalizing the service sector a key economic initiative, but the taxi industry is resisting.
Costa Concordia: Stowaways the latest uncertainty

Unregistered passengers – stowaways – may have been aboard the Costa Concordia cruise ship that wrecked off the coast of Italy, meaning the final death toll could go higher.
Costa Concordia captain: symbol of the era?

The Concordia captain's missteps and failure to take responsibility have spurred deeper discussion about a dearth of moral leaders.
Can Costa Concordia's captain get a fair trial in Italy?

The amount of public anger directed toward the captain of the Costa Concordia, which wrecked off the Italian coast last week, may prevent him from receiving fair legal treatment.
Costa Concordia: Capsized cruise ship owners blame 'human error'

Costa Concordia owners say that the captain made an unauthorized deviation from the programmed course, leading to the deadly crash.
Global News Blog
Europe's debt crisis: What's next for Italy and Greece?

Italy and Greece are working to cobble together interim governments to avoid bankruptcy as Europe's debt crisis rolls on.
Italy's Berlusconi agrees to resign. Here's why.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi survived scandals from corruption to underage prostitution. But the economy pushed Italy's flamboyant leader to resign.
Arab refugee influx causes Europe to rethink its open borders

France wants to overhaul the Schengen agreement, which allows free movement across European borders. A key issue: including large groups of immigrants among the potential 'threats to public order' that allow temporary internal border controls.
Global News Blog
Italy's largest animal is on the brink of extinction

The Marsican bears are the largest land animal in Italy, but they could soon be gone from the country's forest and mountains because of traffic accidents, illegally hunting, and unintentional poisoning.
Italy and France join UK sending advisers to Libya, testing limits of UN resolution

In addition to dispatching military experts with Italy and Britain, France has pledged to increase airstrikes as Europe steps up military operations in Libya.
Berlusconi says he won't run again. Don't be so sure.

Embattled Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi suggested he won't seek reelection when his term ends in 2013. But already his advisers are saying that, well, maybe he wasn't serious.
Capsized boat sharpens Europe's concern over migrant influx from Libya, Tunisia

Italy continued searching for survivors of a boat that capsized after leaving Libya for Lampedusa, the Italian island where thousands of migrants have landed since the start of Arab unrest.
Plenty of flash at lightning-brief start of Berlusconi trial

The latest case against Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi, who faces charges of sexual misconduct, was adjourned within minutes, but outside the court was a raucous amalgam of protesters and police.
Terrorism & Security
Who's rethinking support for Libya's no-fly zone – and why

After a few days of Western airstrikes on Libya, initial international support is beginning to fall apart as disputes arise about what levels of military action are authorized by Thursday's UN resolution.
Global News Blog
Even Michelangelo's David is worried about his weak ankles

An underground railway project in Rome could bring Michelangelo's iconic David tumbling down because of weak marble around its ankles.
Across Europe, Japan crisis provokes nuclear rethink

The European Union will carry out 'stress tests' at all of its operating nuclear power plants and some countries may scrap plans for new reactors.