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☆ Italy's TIM suffers internet connection problems
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ROME, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Thousands of Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI) (TIM) customers across Italy complained of internet outages and glitches on Sunday which the company blamed on problems with an international link. Users from the northern city of Milan to the Sicilian capital Palermo reported problems, with the issue mainly focused on fixed-line internet services. Analyses are underway to resolve the problem," a TIM spokesperson said. There was no indication that the problems were caused by hackers, Italy's ANSA news agency reported. Reporting by Keith Weir and Elvira Pollina; Writing by Keith Weir; Editing by Jan HarveyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/4] A member of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) looks at a migrant after he was rescued by the ship 'Geo Barents' during a search and rescue (SAR) operation in the Mediterranean Sea, January 25, 2023. La Spezia is the furthest and northernmost destination that Italy has assigned to an NGO ship. Forcing NGO ships to reach ever-more distant ports increases costs at a time when budgets are stretched by inflation and higher fuel costs following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Last month, the SOS Mediterranee NGO appealed for donations, saying fuel charges for its Ocean Viking rescue ship had increased by over 1 million euros during 2022. The new docking destinations policy adds to a December decree which forces NGO ships to request and head to a port "without delay" after each rescue, rather than continue looking for boats in distress.

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.

☆ Italian Movie Star Claudia Cardinale Had a Thing for Brigitte Bardot’s Ponytail
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Marc Myers | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Claudia Cardinale, 84, is an Italian actress who starred in more than 100 films, including “8½” and “The Pink Panther.” Twenty of her films will be screened by New York’s MoMA, with restorations by Italy’s Cinecittà, starting Feb. 3. She and her daughter, Claudia Squitieri, spoke with Marc Myers. I grew up in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. At the time, Tunisia was a French protectorate with a thriving economy. Sicily was only two hours away by boat, so over time a large Sicilian community had emigrated to Tunis for work.

☆ You can rent out Daphne and Harper's Sicilian villa from 'The White Lotus' for around $6,000 per night on Airbnb
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Villa Tasca is available for around $6,000 per night with a three-night minimum on Airbnb. The Villa Tasca has inspired famous opera composers, according to its website. The Villa Tasca grounds include a 20-acre garden and citrus grove. Courtesy of the Airbnb Photographer CommunityIn "The White Lotus," the villa is located in the town of Noto, known for its baroque architecture. But the Villa Tasca actually is located in Palermo, Sicily's capital and where other tragic storylines in season 2 take place.

☆ Sicilian Mafia’s Bloodiest Era Draws to a Close With Arrest of Old-School Boss
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Margherita Stancati | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ROME—The arrest of Sicilian mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro marks the end of an era for Cosa Nostra, a once-dominant player in global crime that has largely been forced to retreat to its native island. Captured this week after 30 years on the run, Mr. Messina Denaro was the last leading mobster who represented Cosa Nostra, as the Sicilian mafia is known in Italy, in its heyday and still lived at large. He played a major role in the crime syndicate in the 1980s and 1990s, when it controlled the trans-Atlantic heroin trade and waged a ruthless campaign against anything that stood in the way, from rival factions to the Italian state.

☆ 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.

☆ Perfumes and fancy clothes found in mafia boss Messina Denaro's hideout
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Wladimir Pantaleone | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Carabinieri police stand guard near the hideout of Matteo Messina Denaro, Italy's most wanted mafia boss, after he was arrested, in the Sicilian town of Campobello di Mazara, Italy, January 17, 2023. REUTERS/Antonio ParrinelloPALERMO, Italy, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Perfumes and designer label clothes were found on Tuesday in an apartment which investigators believe was the last hideout of Sicilian mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, judicial sources said, a day after the arrest of the 60-year-old fugitive. Messina Denaro was known for his taste for luxury goods, including sun glasses and clothes. Investigators believe Messina Denaro was driven on Monday to Palermo's La Maddalena hospital from Campobello di Mazara to be treated for cancer. Despite his illness, prosecutors said Messina Denaro was fit enough to serve time in prison where he will carry on with his cancer treatment.

☆ Italian Police Arrest Most-Wanted Sicilian Mafia Boss
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Margherita Stancati | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Members of the Carabinieri police stand outside the force’s San Lorenzo headquarters in Palermo. ROME—Italy’s Carabinieri military police have detained the country’s most notorious fugitive mafia boss, who had been on the run for 30 years, dealing a blow to one of the world’s most storied crime syndicates. Matteo Messina Denaro was in a private hospital on the outskirts of the Sicilian city of Palermo when Carabinieri swarmed the area and captured him on Monday morning, the Carabinieri said.

Italy's most-wanted man, Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, was arrested Monday after three decades on the run. Messina Denaro, a convicted murderer who has eluded authorities 30 years, is thought to be the leader of the notorious Cosa Nostra organized crime group. A picture released by police early Monday showed Messina Denaro in a police car — visibly older than in his 1990s mugshots — alongside two officers. Matteo Messina Denaro after his arrest on Monday. In 2006, police arrested Cosa Nostra boss Bernardo Provenzano, who police named as the "Capo di Capi," or chief of chiefs, after a 43-year manhunt.

☆ 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.

☆ Italian police arrest most wanted mafia boss Messina Denaro in Sicily
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Vladimiro Pantaleone | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PALERMO, Italy, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Italian police said on Monday they had arrested Matteo Messina Denaro, the country's most wanted mafia boss who had been on the run for three decades, swooping on a private hospital in the Sicilian capital Palermo where he had gone for treatment. Prosecutors say Messina Denaro is a boss of Sicily's Cosa Nostra mafia. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hailed the arrest as "a great victory for the state that shows it never gives up in the face of the mafia". Messina Denaro, who comes from the small town of Castelvetrano near Trapani, is accused by prosecutors of being solely or jointly responsible for numerous other murders in the 1990s. In 1993 he helped organise the kidnapping of a 12-year-old boy, Giuseppe Di Matteo, in an attempt to dissuade his father from giving evidence against the mafia, prosecutors say.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

It was also nominated for best TV musical or comedy TV series. Gomez, 30, was nominated for her performance as Mabel Mora in Hulu's true crime satire “Only Murders in the Building." The show was also nominated for best musical or comedy TV series. Also joining the club of first-time Latino Golden Globe nominees are Aubrey Plaza, Diego Calva and Diego Luna. Two other young Latinas, Anya Taylor-Joy and Ana de Armas, landed best performance nominations for their leading movie roles.

In TV, the top 10 list ranges from the indefinable second season of “The White Lotus” to laugh-out-loud comedies and smoldering fantasy shows. “Catch the Fair One” is available on Hulu and various video-on-demand platforms. “Paris, 13th District” is available on Amazon Prime Video and various video-on-demand platforms. “Peter Von Kant” is available on various video-on-demand platforms. “Tár” is available on various video-on-demand platforms.

☆ 2022: The Year That Upended Pop Culture
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Wsj Staff | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

STREAMINGHow did a Kate Bush song from 1985 get stuck in our heads during the summer of 2022? You can thank “Stranger Things” season 4 for that. “Euphoria” fashion found its way into the closets of viewers far older than its teen subjects. And we’re all still thinking about “The White Lotus,” set this season at a Sicilian resort.

☆ HBO's 'White Lotus' season 2 was filmed at a real hotel in Italy. Here's what it's like.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

"The White Lotus" season two was filmed at the San Domenico Palace hotel in Taormina, Italy. The season was filmed at the San Domenico Palace Four Seasons luxury hotel in Taormina, a town in the Sicily region of Italy. Getty Images"It has so much personality," "White Lotus" executive producer David Bernad told People Magazine last month. HBOBut if you can get past the alleged hauntings, the San Domenico Palace sounds like a beautiful place experience. Here's how it's described on the website: "Perched on a rocky promontory high above the Ionian Sea, the iconic San Domenico Palace welcomes you to a 14th-century convent reimagined.

Editor’s note: This article includes spoilers for “The White Lotus” season 2. “He kept saying, ‘Sabrina, the more bitchy you are, the more it’s going to work.’ And I really trusted him.”Sabrina Impacciatore in "The White Lotus." Jennifer Coolidge accepts the Emmy for her performance in season 1 of "The White Lotus." The brief, moan-filled love scene that follows gets about as close to a life-affirming event as an overnight stay at the White Lotus can. I was inventing magic rituals — literally, inventing rituals to get the role, to have Mike White in my life.

MILAN, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Russia's Lukoil (LKOH.MM) and U.S. private equity firm Crossbridge are close to a deal for the sale of the Russian group's refinery in Sicily, Italy, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. The Lukoil-owned site in Sicily refines a fifth of Italy's crude and directly employs about 1,000 people in an economically depressed area. Last week, Rome laid down a scheme to place the plant in the hands of trustees to protect jobs and domestic refinery capacity from the embargo. read moreThe possibility that the refinery may end up under a trusteeship has accelerated negotiations between Lukoil and Crossbridge, one of the sources said. ($1 = 0.9480 euros)Additional reporting by Angelo Amante; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Italy's Meloni and daughter targeted by online death threat
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ROME, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her 6-year-old daughter have received online death threats from an unemployed man angry over government plans to cut an anti-poverty subsidy, police said on Wednesday. Meloni's right-wing government wants to limit the so-called "citizens' income" scheme next year ahead of scrapping the measure altogether in 2024, when it will be replaced by a new benefit that has yet to be detailed. Meloni, who took office in October, has always criticised the citizens' income, which was introduced in 2019, arguing that able-bodied people of working age should not be allowed to live off state subsidies indefinitely. Under proposals included in the 2023 budget, currently under debate in parliament, citizens' income payments will be withdrawn after eight months except for households with children, people aged 60 or above, and disabled persons. Reporting by Alvise Armellini and Angelo Amante, editing by Crispian BalmerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

So far the practical help for a project that will create around 1,000 jobs, has come from the Europe Union. It also says its panels are better and that 3Sun will be the European Union's largest producer of high performance bifacial solar panels by 2024. Eurostat figures show around three quarters of Europe's solar panels are sourced from China. The European Union as a whole aims to reach almost 600 gigawatts (GW) of solar energy by 2030 and the number of installations is increasing. Enel is not limiting its ambitions to Europe, although it says at least 50% of its Sicilian production will be for the continent.

The letter, seen by Reuters, is signed by the head of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at the U.S. Treasury, and mentions a loan provided by some Italian banks and state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP). The Italian government adopted on Thursday a scheme allowing ISAB to be placed under trusteeship, while Lukoil continues talks on selling the asset. A similar move was taken by Germany when in September it took control of a refinery owned by Rosneft (ROSN.MM). The government could call on "an oil company that operates in the sector, and it is obvious to everyone that this (company) could be Eni, and this will ensure continuity of production," he said. Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte and Alvise Armellini, Editing by Christina Fincher and Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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