Focus::Daily News
NEWSLINE
CT NEWS - A 25-year-old Moldovan dancer has told a TV station she was on the bridge of the Costa Concordia with the captain when it struck rocks near a Tuscan island and sank last week, killing at least 11 people. Dominica Cemortan, who was not on the passenger list, has said in Moldovan media interviews and on her Facebook page that she was with Capt. Francesco Schettino when the accident was unfolding... (Read article)
LATIMES - A New Zealand-based company has created a Google Earth simulation of the path of the Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that went aground last week off the coast of Tuscany. PlanetinAction.com owner Paul van Dinther created the model using cruise ship tracking data from... (Read article)
HUFFINGTON POST - Cruises have long been the chosen, if not the last, resort of anxious travelers, so the industry's defense of its safety record came as little surprise after news that the Costa Concordia had struck a rock off Italy. In a predictably worded statement, Cruise Lines International Association, the biggest industry group, reminded travelers that accidents are rare and that "cruising continues to be one of safest (sic) means of travel among all types of vacationing." (Read article)
HINDUSTANTIMES. Chef, restaurateur and television personality Lidia Matticchio Bastianich built a career by conveying authentic, regional Italian food to American audiences. (Read article)
LEZGETREAL. Remember the story about Rick Santorum’s Italian grandfather, left Italy in 1925 because the fascists were repressing liberties, became a Pennsylvania coal miner? Santorum couches the whole story in the most “America the Beautiful” terms, replete with escaping totalitarianism and living the American dream. Hang on to that story. (Read the article by Linda Carbonell)
ANSA. A probe has been opened into Rome's deal with shoe king Diego Della Valle to restore the Colosseum, according to a trade union that appealed against the allegedly "secret" deal. (Read the article)
ANSA. A luxury Florence brand has released a limited-edition handbag inspired by a drawing by Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci. (Read the article)
THE NEW YORK TIMES. THE Nativity scene at the Westchester Italian Cultural Center is a lively one. A woman sells lemons from her colorful stall, while beside her a vendor hawks baccala, the salted codfish beloved in Naples. Nearby, a butcher’s stand, links of sausage draped around its frame, offers cuts of red meat. (Read the article)
ANSA. Half the mozzarella cheese sold in Italy came from milk or related products produced abroad, the farmers' organisation Coldiretti said Wednesday. (Read the article)
THE WALL STREE JURNAL. This Christmas, Italian condo investors got a lump of coal in their stockings: a new tax on residential property owned in foreign countries. But some New York City brokers say that for them, the new tax could be a shiny holiday gift. (Read the article by Robbie Whelan)