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On Friday, the work of the new Italian “Blue Helmet” force in Amatrice was completed. They leave having recovered 900 pieces of art such as altarpieces and other paintings from museums, chapels and shrines.
For 10 euros -- about $11 -- one lucky person will win the first prize in Pope Francis's now-traditional Christmastime raffle, which is a red Opel Karl, a German-made, five-door hatchback car. All proceeds will benefit the victims of the Aug. 24 earthquake in central Italy that left almost 300 people dead and the homeless.
Islamic State fighters or sympathizers have launched scores of attacks that killed hundreds and injured many more — in France, Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Tunisia, Australia, Canada and the U.S. Yet there have been no attacks in Italy. Italian authorities have credited smart, focused intelligence and police work. But an expert on Italian foreign policy and international terrorism said there are other likely reasons Italy has thus far escaped an islamist terrorist attack.
In the first nine months of 2016 more children arrived by sea in Italy than in all of last year. This year more than 90 per cent of the children travelled alone while in 2015 the unaccompanied accounted for 75 per cent. This year has also seen an increase of children from Egypt but most still come from West Africa.
Barack Obama praised the political "vision" of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in a newspaper interview on Tuesday ahead of a state visit by Renzi to Washington, and criticized EU rules that rein in national budgets.
"That is a possessed woman there," says Fr Vincenzo Taraborelli as he points up to an 18th Century fresco in his Roman church. "They're holding her with her mouth open. She has little devils coming out of her body. She's being freed." It is a scene the 79-year-old priest says he knows well. For the past 27 years, Fr Taraborelli has performed exorcisms - the Catholic rite of expelling evil spirits.
Celebrity chef Mario Batali will cook Barack Obama's final state banquet tomorrow night when the President welcomes Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to the White House. First Lady Michelle Obama met with Batali at his restaurant in New York last month while her husband attended the final UN general assembly meeting of his presidency.
Italy’s government on Saturday approved a 2017 budget plan that aims to avert tax increases as Prime Minister Matteo Renzi faces increasing pressure ahead of a national referendum over constitutional changes.
The Pope has proclaimed seven further saints, including the Argentinian “gaucho priest” who served as an inspiration for the pontiff, and two people who were killed because of their faith.
A wide variety of innovations are being showcased at the 60 stands of the International Inventors Exhibition opening Friday at the Pala Expo in Venice.