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“All it took was for the government to change,” said Alessia Crocini, an activist with LGBT group Rainbow Families. “The climate that has been created over the last few months is really like a witch hunt.”Salvatore Laporta/IPA/Zuma

☆ Mount Vesuvius park closes access to volcano after Napoli fans plan to fake an eruption after potential title victory
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The Vesuvius national park authority in Naples, Italy, has announced it will be closing access to the live volcano on Saturday, ahead of Napoli’s potential title-winning game on Sunday. Should Lazio drop points against Inter Milan in an earlier kickoff on Sunday, the Italian side could win its first Italian league title in 33 years with victory against Salernitana. Authorities became concerned after reports emerged of plans to use blue smoke bombs and industrial strength fireworks inside the crater, which has been described as a “fragile and intrinsically dangerous place.”The volcano overlooks the city. Supporters burn flares next to a mock grave for a coffin in Naples adorned with the scarves of rival teams Inter Milan, Juventus and AC Milan. “Vesuvius crater is a fragile and intrinsically dangerous place.”The press release went on to say the Vesuvius police municipalities and the Carabinieri military police would provide a “massive garrison” to protect the entrances and access.

☆ Mobster’s Son Gets Life Sentence for Orchestrating Father’s Murder
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Colin Moynihan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The small cluster of brick houses his father built on adjoining Locust Point lots were meant for the family to live together in what they called “Zottola’s Court,” Salvatore Zottola testified. There were several unsuccessful attempts to kill Sylvester Zottola. Someone tried to shoot him as he drove on the Throgs Neck Expressway, prosecutors said, but he escaped by driving in reverse. Another time, an assailant broke into the Zottola family office with a gun with the goal of killing Mr. Zottola but fled after he accidentally tripped a panic alarm. Mr. Cabey said Mr. Zottola began firing at him as he fled.

March 20 (Reuters) - Russia's top investigative body said on Monday it had opened a criminal case against the International Criminal Court prosecutor and judges who issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges. The move was a symbolic gesture of defiance, three days after the ICC accused Putin and his children's commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova of the war crime of deporting children from Ukraine to Russia. The Kremlin has called the issuing of the warrant outrageous but legally void, as Russia is not a signatory to the treaty that created the ICC. On Monday it said the court's move was a sign of the "clear hostility" that exists against Russia and against Putin personally. Russia has publicly said it has brought thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia in what it presents as a humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and abandoned children in the conflict zone.

☆ Pope Francis marks 10th anniversary with Mass and podcast
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

VATICAN CITY, March 13 (Reuters) - Pope Francis marks 10 years as head of the Roman Catholic Church on Monday celebrating Mass with cardinals in the chapel of the Vatican's Santa Marta hotel where he has lived since his election. The Argentina-born Francis, 86, became the first Latin American pontiff on March 13, 2013, succeeding Benedict XVI who had become the first pope in six centuries to resign. With his 10 years as pontiff, Francis has now reigned longer than the 7.5 years average length of the previous 265 pontificates. After that comes the papacy of John Paul II, who reigned for more than 26 years between 1978 and 2005. The shortest is believed to be that of Urban VII, which lasted 13 days in 1590.

☆ Former NYC corrections union chief convicted of bribery wins early prison release
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Norman Seabrook, (C) the head of New York City's prison guard union, exits the Manhattan District court house in New York, U.S., July 22, 2016. Seabrook, 63, the former head of the Correction Officers' Benevolent Association, has spent 21 months in prison after unsuccessfully appealing his August 2018 conviction. "The sentence Huberfeld originally received reflected an approximate equivalence between the conduct of the bribe giver, Huberfeld, and the bribe taker, Seabrook," Hellerstein wrote. The correction officers union has about 20,000 active and retired members. The case is U.S. v Seabrook, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.

BEIJING, Feb 7 (Reuters) - China's luxury market contracted 10% in 2022 on the year, snapping a five-year streak of high growth, as Beijing's zero-COVID policy and a slowing economy hit spending, Bain & Company said in a report on Tuesday. The luxury market grew 42% annually between 2019 and 2021 but its fortunes changed in 2022, after China doubled down on stamping out COVID-19 with city-wide lockdowns and a regulatory crackdown hit the property sector and fuelled unemployment. The figure compared to growth of 1% between 2012 and 2016, and a 26% increase in sales between 2016 and 2019, Bain said. Mirroring recent results from the likes of French luxury goods group LVMH (LVMH.PA) and Italy's Salvatore Ferragamo (SFER.MI) for 2022, Bain said all luxury categories were affected to varying degrees during the year. While categories with high online penetration, such as luxury beauty, suffered single-digit declines, the watch market fell the most, with sales dropping 20% to 25% from 2021.

☆ How a 27-Year-Old Designer Is Reviving Your Grandma’s Favorite Shoe Brand
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Rory Satran | Photography Joshua Woods For Wsj. Magazine | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

“Honestly, it’s a huge machine,” Davis continues, referring to the company that Ferragamo launched in 1927. Ferragamo had six children with his wife, Wanda, a powerful matriarch who oversaw the company after her husband’s death in 1960. The Ferragamo family is still involved, owning about 65 percent of the publicly traded company’s shares, with the couple’s son Leonardo serving as chairman of the board. On that first day, Davis met his new assistant, who showed him around and introduced him to the different teams he’d be working with. “Obviously, I had trouble remembering everyone’s names because I think it’s 17 designers, but it was exciting,” he says.

☆ H&M highlights fast-fashion gloom as luxury takes hit in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Shares in H&M, the world's No. 2 fashion retailer, fell as much as 6% in early trade after quarterly operating profit sank to 821 million Swedish crowns ($79.7 million) from 6.26 billion a year earlier. Zara has outperformed rivals after selling higher-priced garments and enticing shoppers who might have otherwise spent money at luxury stores. Disappointment over the impact of the China disruptions on its margins caused a record-breaking run in LVMH shares to briefly halt on Friday. The luxury industry is nevertheless expected to be one of the biggest winners from the loosening of restrictions that kept shoppers out of stores in China for months.

Catalano's brother, Agostino, was a policeman who died in a 1992 bomb that killed anti-mob magistrate Paolo Borsellino - a attack that prosecutors say Messina Denaro helped mastermind. The last confirmed sighting of Messina Denaro was in 1993, making it difficult for police to identify the most wanted man in Italy. Only one of them decided to collaborate with justice," said Roberto Piscitello, a prosecutor who tried to capture Messina Denaro from 1996 to 2008. FALSE IDENTITYPolice say they managed to catch Messina Denaro after learning from wiretaps of his relatives that he had cancer. BUSINESS CONTACTSMagistrates said they found evidence that Messina Denaro had visited Spain, Greece and Austria over the years.

☆ Mafia boss Messina Denaro held in top security Italian prison
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] A general view shows the prison where Italy's most wanted mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro is detained, in L'Aquila, Italy, January 18, 2023. REUTERS/Gabriele PileriL'AQUILA, Italy, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro was being held on Wednesday in a high-security jail in central Italy, subject to special restrictions applied to the country's most dangerous prisoners. "I've no criminal record," Messina Denaro, who was caught on Monday after 30 years on the run, told prison guards when he was admitted to the Costarelle prison close to the city of L'Aquila, Italian media reported. Police on Tuesday found the apartment where they believe Messina Denaro had been living for the past few months under the assumed name of Andrea Bonafede. Prosecutors say Messina Denaro was one of the leading figures in Cosa Nostra but preferred to remain in his own region and was not the "boss of bosses" like the late Salvatore "Toto" Riina.

☆ Factbox: How top Mafia boss Messina Denaro escaped justice for 30 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Alvise Armellini | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

ROME, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Matteo Messina Denaro, a brutal Sicilian Mafia boss who was Italy's most wanted criminal before his capture on Monday, had been on the run for 30 years. Messina Denaro, 60, was the last runaway member of a generation of mobsters who masterminded a string of bombings and murders that terrorised Italy in the early 1990s. Nobody knows for sure, but there have long been suspicions that Messina Denaro had his back covered by politicians and other establishment connections. Crime writer Roberto Saviano has pointed out that a former junior justice minister, Antonio D'Ali, has been convicted for collusion with the Messina Denaro family. Messina Denaro was eventually caught outside a clinic in Palermo after police discovered he was sick with cancer.

☆ Years of cat-and-mouse end as top mafioso cornered in Italian clinic
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Crispian Balmer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

He liked wearing designer clothes, expensive sun glasses and Rolex watches, he loved video games and had a taste for luxury foods. Messina Denaro was born in the southwestern Sicilian town of Castelvetrano in 1962, the son of a mafioso. A mass of these notes was found in 2006 when police caught Bernardo Provenzano, who had led Cosa Nostra after Riina's arrest. In a letter to a contact, Messina Denaro said he couldn't believe how careless Provenzano had been. Nonetheless, the fact he managed to escape arrest for so many years showed he had a fierce, loyal following.

☆ Sicilian mafia boss arrested after 30 years on the run — the last of Italy's most-wanted crime lords
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Matteo Messina Denaro, the boss of Sicily's Cosa Nostra mafia group, was arrested on Monday. He became a fugitive on Italy's most-wanted list in 1993, tied to a series of murders and bombings. His capture followed the arrests of other crime kingpins who had been on the run for decades. He is the last of Italy's three most-wanted mafia bosses who eluded capture for decades, per Sky News. Mafia "boss of bosses" Salvatore Riina, who spent 23 years as a fugitive, was captured in 1993.

☆ Arrest of 'last godfather' deals new blow to ailing Sicilian mafia
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Angelo Amante | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Messina Denaro, 60, was Italy's most wanted mafia boss and had been on the run for three decades. Experts describe Cosa Nostra, its fame amplified by movies such as "The Godfather", as an ailing crime group facing several difficulties, including competition in the highly lucrative drugs market. "Messina Denaro was the last godfather, he represented all the secrets of Cosa Nostra. Sergi said it was not clear who would step in to replace Messina Denaro in what is now a more factionalised mafia. Any revelation from Messina Denaro on the group's activities - including 1993 bomb attacks in Florence, Rome and Milan which killed 10 people - could be a further major development.

☆ Italy arrests Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

1 fugitive, convicted Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, was arrested on Monday at a private clinic in Palermo, Sicily, after 30 years on the run, Italian paramilitary police said. Messina Denaro was captured at the clinic where he was receiving treatment for an undisclosed medical condition, said Carabinieri Gen. Pasquale Angelosanto, who heads the police force's special operations squad. Messina Denaro was taken to a secret location by police immediately after the arrest, Italian state television reported. Messina Denaro, who had a power base in the port city of Trapani, in western Sicily, was considered Sicily's Cosa Nostra top boss even while a fugitive. Messina Denaro, who tried in absentia and convicted of dozens of murders, faces multiple life sentences.

☆ European Luxury Shares Rise on Easing of Chinese Border Restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Nick Kostov | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Chinese consumers are important for luxury-goods companies such as Hermès, LVMH and Gucci. PARIS—Shares in European luxury retailers rose Tuesday on investor hopes of renewed Chinese tourist spending after Beijing said it planned to ease pandemic-related border restrictions. Luxury goods giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE advanced as much as 2.5% in Paris while Kering SA, owner of the Gucci and Saint Laurent brands, rose as much as 2.2% and Birkin-bag maker Hermès International SCA advanced more than 2%. In Milan, shares in Moncler SpA, Tod’s SpA and Salvatore Ferragamo SpA also rose.

It’s whatever you can grab,” said Scott McCandless, 54, who lives in Orchard Park, a suburb southeast of Buffalo. When his driveway was finally plowed at 9 a.m., McCandless set out looking for open supermarkets. We’re buried in the snow.”The “once-in-a-lifetime” blizzard — which killed at least 57 people nationwide, including 27 in western New York’s Erie County — has left many in dire predicaments. On Monday, snow continued to blanket Erie County, leaving roads in many areas impassable, including the majority of Buffalo, County Executive Mark Poloncarz said at a news conference. But at least 20 stores in the rest of Erie County were still closed Monday afternoon.

☆ Ten years after Sandy Hook shooting, Connecticut town spends a day in reflection
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Nathan Layne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/8] Dr. Anthony Salvatore, co-president of the Connecticut Federation of School Administrators lays roses on the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial as part in a wreath laying ceremony hosted by The National Teachers Hall of Fame to mark the 10th anniversary of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, U.S., December 14, 2022. Wearing a green sweater - the Sandy Hook school color - he walked the memorial, stopping at the names of the children who now would have been 16 and 17. He renewed a call to ban the kind of military-style rifles used in Sandy Hook and many other mass shootings. Mark Barden, whose 7-year-old son Daniel was killed at Sandy Hook, is one of several parents who channeled their grief into advocacy. He co-founded Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit that aims to educate teachers and students about warning signs that can be used to identify likely mass shooters.

A female police officer in Chicago says a supervisor forced her to perform oral sex on him inside a car. A female officer in Philadelphia says a sergeant grabbed her hand and placed it on the crotch of his pants. And a female officer in New York says one of her superiors hacked into her Snapchat account and showed off her intimate photos to a male commander. “How can you be in charge of male and female officers with the record that you have?”Marchese didn’t respond to requests for comment. Of the 87 NYPD officers accused in court papers of abusing female officers, 27 have since moved up in rank, according to an NBC News review.

Such a plan met heavy reservations within Giorgia Meloni's new right-wing administration, which decided to put CDP's bid on hold on Monday night, two government officials told Reuters. TIM, which has been under pressure for years due to a hyper-competitive domestic market, had no immediate comment. Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti this month said Butti's plans required extensive discussions within the government, which had "several options" to secure control of TIM's network. Butti, who has openly criticised CDP's plans for TIM, has called on the Treasury-owned lender to take over TIM in full to then sell its service operations, including its Brazil-listed unit. TIM is expected to hold a board meeting on Wednesday to discuss the appointment of a director to replace Renault boss Luca de Meo.

☆ A dozen people are missing and one is dead after a landslide swept cars and buildings into the sea on an Italian coast
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A landslide on the Italian island of Ischia has reportedly left 1 dead and at least 12 missing. Officials said some people are likely buried under mud from the landslide. Inclement weather made it difficult for rescuers to get to the island as rescue efforts continue. The landslide swept buildings, cars, and buses into the sea on the island of Ischia at the port of Casamicciola, rendering some streets impassable, according to The Associated Press. People remove mud from a house after heavy rainfall triggered landslides that collapsed buildings and left as many as 12 people missing, in Casamicciola, on the southern Italian island of Ischia, Saturday, Nov. 26, 2022.

☆ Faith groups split over bill to protect same-sex marriage
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Among U.S. faith leaders and denominations, there are sharp differences over the bill advancing in the Senate that would protect same-sex and interracial marriages in federal law. Meanwhile, many left-of-center faith leaders are cheering the bill, including some who planned a Thursday morning rally at the U.S. Capitol. A final Senate vote is expected soon, and the measure — if approved — would then return to the House for consideration of Senate changes. An opinion at that time from Justice Clarence Thomas suggested that an earlier high court decision protecting same-sex marriage could also come under threat. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, an American Baptist pastor who is president of Interfaith Alliance and is part of a same-sex marriage.

☆ Vivendi representative Frank Cadoret resigns from Telecom Italia's board
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Telecom Italia (TIM) logo is seen displayed in this illustration taken, May 3, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationROME, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI) (TIM) said on Wednesday that Frank Cadoret, one of two board members representing top investor Vivendi (VIV.PA), resigned from the post. Vivendi has clashed with Rossi, a former Bank of Italy official, over corporate governance issues on a number of occasions. The other Vivendi representative on TIM's board is the French media conglomerate's chief executive, Arnaud de Puyfontaine. Reporting by Alvise Armellini and Elvira Pollina, editing by Gianluca Semeraro and Tomasz JanowskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Confessions of a personal finance reporter (Part Two): 3 more of my worst money mistakes
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Sarah O'Brien | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Salvatore AgostinoI tried to time the stock market because I 'knew' where it was headedI was at least a couple decades into adulthood when I decided I could see into the future. That is, I just knew the stock market was on the verge of dropping and would stay down for a while. This crystal ball-reading talent emerged as I rolled over money from an old 401(k) into my then-current retirement account. That is, I knew that the stock market generally rose over time and was a good place to put long-term savings, such as for retirement. Now, this was long enough ago that I have no memory of the fund's performance or my account balance when I eventually moved the money to another retirement account.

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