Tag: Italy

• Friday, February 22nd 2013 - 01:58 UTC

  Comic Beppe Grillo the outsider that has Italy’s political system “terrified”

  

  Comic Beppe Grillo, a political newcomer is sending shockwaves to the Italian political system ahead of national elections. Touring the country in a camper van and attracting tens of thousands to his rallies, Grillo has channeled the rage and frustration that Italians feel at the rampant waste and corruption of their political leaders.

• Friday, February 22nd 2013 - 01:53 UTC

  Berlusconi rattles election campaign claiming Monti and Bersani have “Merkel’s blessing”

  

  Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti rowed back from comments suggesting that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had expressed opposition to his political rivals on the centre-left days before an election next week.

• Monday, February 4th 2013 - 04:46 UTC

  Berlusconi promises to end with the “technical” and “left wing” taxmen

  

  Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced his “last great electoral and political battle” with a sweeping promise to cut taxes and the cost of government if his centre-right wins elections this month.

• Tuesday, December 11th 2012 - 21:27 UTC

  Berlusconi begins campaign and challenges: “who cares about the spread?”

  

  Italy's Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday set the tone for his election campaign saying nobody should care about bond spreads, and accused Mario Monti of being too “German-centric”.

• Friday, October 26th 2012 - 21:27 UTC

  End of bunga-bunga: ex PM Berlusconi handed jail sentence for tax fraud

  

  Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been handed a jail sentence and barred from office after being found guilty of tax fraud. The Milan court sentenced him to four years but later cut it to one year because of an amnesty law.

• Monday, October 8th 2012 - 20:28 UTC

  MSC Orchestra four crew members hospitalized with bacterial meningitis

  

  Four members of the crew of an Italian liner are in hospital, including one who is fighting for his life, following an outbreak of bacterial meningitis. The four were admitted to hospital in the Tuscan port of Livorno on Sunday at the end of a cruise by MSC Orchestra liner. A 32-year-old Indonesian crew member is the most ill of the four.

• Friday, September 7th 2012 - 05:41 UTC

  ECB bond-buying scheme announcement boosts world markets

  

  Asian shares looked set for their biggest daily gain in nearly five weeks on Friday after the European Central Bank outlined its bond-buying scheme to help calm the Euro zone's debt crisis, while firm US data fed speculation of a strong jobs report later in the day.

• Thursday, July 26th 2012 - 19:51 UTC

  ECB to the rescue of Spain and Italy and avoid collapse of Euro zone

  

  European Central Bank President Mario Draghi pledged on Thursday to do whatever was necessary to protect the Euro zone from collapse, including acting to lower unreasonably high government borrowing costs.

• Tuesday, July 24th 2012 - 06:26 UTC

  Euro down to lowest in 11 years as Spain crumbles and investors flee

  

  The Euro weakened to the lowest in more than 11 years against the Yen as investors sought safer assets amid mounting concern that European leaders are failing to control the region’s debt crisis.

• Monday, July 16th 2012 - 23:48 UTC

  Italian banks downgraded but risk-rating agencies analysis are also questioned

  

  UniCredit SpA and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA were among 13 Italian banks that had long-term debt, deposit or issuer ratings cut by Moody’s Investors Service, which cited the government’s weakened creditworthiness.