Eight out of 90 European banks have failed stress tests on whether they could withstand another financial crisis. None were in Italy - which it hopes might help the country fend off spiraling debt costs, along with the 70-billion-Euro cuts which parliament passed on Friday. But, as RT's Sara Firth reports, there's only so much that can be done before the people take power into their own hands.
The euro plunged deeper into crisis last night as Greece’s credit rating was slashed to ‘junk’ status – just one notch above default – by another major agency.
European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has called an emergency meeting of top officials dealing with the euro zone debt crisis for Monday morning, reflecting concern that the crisis could spread to Italy, the region's third largest economy.
Prime Minister accused of exploiting Italy's spending cuts to avoid business liability
Israel's Education Minister Gideon Saar and his Italian counterpart, Mariastella Gelmini, signed cooperation agreements Monday for training Italian teachers in Holocaust education. Minister Saar said that, "Enhancing Holocaust studies around the world, especially in Europe, constitutes a bulwark against forgetting and denying the Holocaust.
The majority of Italians have backed an opposition-proposed referendum which calls for abolishing immunity for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and banning nuclear power production.
Italians voted to ban nuclear energy for decades on Monday in a referendum that was strongly influenced by Japan's Fukushima disaster but was also a strong political vote against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy on Monday declared his opposition to a Palestinian bid for UN membership, earning thanks from his visiting Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu.
With Greece forced to seek a second bail-out to avoid bankruptcy, Open Europe has today published a briefing cataloguing how the eurozone crisis could drive the European Central Bank itself into insolvency, with taxpayers likely to pick up a big chunk of the bill.
The Ugly Truth discuss the murder of pro-Palestinian activist/hero Vittorio Arrigoni with Ken O’Keefe and Jonathon Azaziah.
It never made sense that a group of Palestinians would commit an act like this, that is unless they were among the handful of Gazans who out of pure desperation, work with Israel as informants. This generally occurs because they are either threatened or bribed.
Germany has pulled out of NATO operations in the Mediterranean due to the disagreement over the forces' mission in Libya.
Political expert Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya of the Center for Globalization Research tells RT that foreign powers have already launched a military campaign in Libya, mirroring events leading to the 2003 Iraq invasion.
Prosecutors allege Berlusconi paid for sex with the Moroccan girl nicknamed Ruby, then used his influence to get her out of police custody when she was detained for theft. They allege that Berlusconi called police the night of May 27-28 because he feared that her relationship to him would be revealed. Berlusconi has not denied making the phone call, but said he did so because he wanted to avert a diplomatic incident. His supporters have claimed that Berlusconi believed Ruby to be the niece of Hosni Mubarak.
Overdrawn American cities could face financial collapse in 2011, defaulting on hundreds of billions of dollars of borrowings and derailing the US economic recovery. Nor are European cities safe – Florence, Barcelona, Madrid, Venice: all are in trouble
Proof that Global Warming is a alive and well, and living in Capri, Italy
Spanish and Italian bonds fell on concern divisions among European officials will hamper efforts by finance ministers meeting in Brussels to stem the region’s sovereign-debt crisis.
During his recent visit to Israel and the Gaza Strip, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini revealed rather brazenly his low intellectual capacity, a scandalous lack of honesty as well as stunning ignorance of the situation in this part of the world. He made many strident statements which can be described as, inter alia, hasty, inaccurate, mendacious and ignorant.
Journalist Manolo Luppichini has written Netanyahu, Peres, Barak, Lieberman and Israel's ambassador in Italy over the matter.
Italy aims to cut deficit to 2.7 pct of GDP by 2012. Goals now are discipline, debt burden and growth - IMF
Among the mega-forces moving the tectonic plates and imperiling the nation-states of the world from above and below are these:
First, ethno-nationalism, which threatens nations with secession and break-up. We see it in the Uighurs of China, the Naga of India, the Baluch of Iran and Pakistan, the Kurds of Iran, Syria, Iraq and Turkey, the Chechens of the Russian Caucasus and the Walloons of Belgium.
Second, transnationalism. This is the project of global elites who seek to reduce nations to ethno-cultural enclaves in a new world order run by these same bloodless bureaucrats whose loyalty is neither to the land nor people whence they came.
NAPLES, ITALY -- Mariarca Terracciano, a 45 year-old Neopolitan nurse employed by the San Paolo hospital in Naples died after three days in a coma. She had drawn 150 millilitres of her own blood each day for four days as protest against the non-payment of her salary by her employer Asl Napoli 1.
Officials in Italy's northwestern city of Novara have fined a Muslim woman 500 euros (650 dollars) for wearing a full Islamic veil on the streets.
Pope Benedict XVI’s personal preacher the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa’s recent comparison between scrutiny over clerical abuse and collective violence suffered by Jews was “highly inappropriate” and “not responsible,” and its nature and timing were a reminder of “both the unique significance of the Catholic-Jewish relationship and its fragility,” B’nai B’rith International’s director of United Nations and Intercommunal Affairs, David J. Michaels, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
Wiretap transcripts lead to investigation of Prime Minister and TV regulator.
Down on the Euro Animal Farm, some animals are more equal than others, finds Eric Walberg
Two million people took to the streets of Athens last week in the country's second general strike this month, protesting the austerity measures proposed by their socialist government. All of Greece came to a 24-hour standstill and the airport was closed as a result of the action. The only public transport was the commuter train so that protesters could reach the demonstration.
According to a report out last week, there is huge off-balance-sheet debt guaranteed by Greece and the other PIIGS, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain.
The Iranian Embassy in Rome has made a request to visit Hamid Masoumi-Nejad, a veteran Iranian reporter jailed in Italy on charges of arms trafficking.