November 28, 2009 • 1:04 am
By Guy Dinmore
published on FT November 28 2009
Silvio Berlusconi’s ruling People of Liberty party is preparing new legislation to protect him from the courts after the prime minister reportedly accused a politically motivated judiciary of taking Italy to the “brink of civil war” and trying to bring down his government.
“Civil war” headlines on Friday dominated the front pages of Italian newspapers, including a daily owned by the Berlusconi family, although the prime minister’s office denied on Thursday night that he had used those words at a closed meeting of party leaders.
Stripped of his immunity from prosecution by the constitutional court last month, Mr Berlusconi, a billionaire media magnate, has sought to recast his personal battles with the courts as an outright assault by left-wing enemies on a democratically elected government. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Italian news, Italian politics , guy dinmore, Financial Times, Berlusconi
November 27, 2009 • 1:01 am
by Guy Dinmore in Rome
published on FT: November 27 2009
Italy’s centre-right government is set to abandon plans to issue sophisticated and secure identity cards using technology supplied by a US company, raising concern in Washington that Europe is falling short in its commitment to combat terrorism and other illegal activities.
Two Italian state-controlled companies have confirmed to the Financial Times that discussions are under way to drop technology supplied by Lasercard, a Mountain View, California-based company, on identity cards already being issued to foreign residents as well as future plans to issue them on a voluntary basis to Italian citizens. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Italian economy, Italian news , Financial Times, guy dinmore
November 26, 2009 • 1:02 am
by Guy Dinmore
Published: November 26 2009
Italian prosecutors yesterday requested jail sentences of up to one year for four executives of Google.
The executives are on trial in Milan over the broadcasting on Google Video of footage showing a handicapped Italian boy being bullied by classmates.
The four executives are charged with criminal defamation against the disabled boy and with breaching the Italian privacy code. The trial could have significant implications for internet privacy and the future of video-sharing websites. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Italian news , Financial Times, Google, guy dinmore
By Guy Dinmore in Rome
Published: November 26 2009
Italy’s centre-right government signalled on Wednesday its readiness to send more troops to Afghanistan after Barack Obama telephoned Silvio Berlusconi to explain the new US strategy and ask for more help.
The Italian prime minister’s office said Mr Berlusconi “responded positively” to the US president’s request for a “reinforcement of the international effort” in Afghanistan.
Robert Gates, US defence secretary, also called Ignazio La Russa, his Italian counterpart. Mr La Russa told reporters Italy was ready to increase its presence in Afghanistan but had not decided by how much. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Italian news, Italian politics , Afghanistan, Financial Times, guy dinmore
November 19, 2009 • 12:20 pm
by Guy Dinmore
published on FT 19 November 2009
The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, on Wednesday expressed his appreciation of support given by Barack Obama, the US president who is visiting China, while members of the exiled government said they were hopeful that stalled talks with Beijing would resume soon.
Speaking in Rome, where he attended an international parliamentary conference on Tibet, the Dalai Lama said the Obama administration had been “very supportive”, as had the previous Bush and Clinton administrations. He noted the appointment by the White House of a special Tibet coordinator.
In Beijing on Tuesday, Mr Obama called for the “early resumption of dialogue” between the Chinese government and representatives of the Dalai Lama.
A White House official, briefing reporters, said Mr Obama discussed Tibet with Hu Jintao, China’s president, “making clear his respect for the Dalai Lama as a cultural and religious leader, and his intention to meet with the Dalai Lama at an appropriate time”. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Tibet, US foreign policy , Dalai Lama, Financial Times, guy dinmore
November 16, 2009 • 6:22 pm
by Guy Dinmore in Rome
Published: November 16 2009
Small and sinking but still vocal, the Seychelles on Monday added its voice to a chorus of dismay that the Copenhagen conference on climate change is set to fall short.
“We cannot at this hour allow countries which are primarily responsible for polluting our atmosphere to hold hostage the survival of the planet,” James Michel, president of a republic of just 85,000 people, told the United Nations World Summit on Food Security. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Seychelles , climate change, FAO, Financial Times, guy dinmore
by Guy Dinmore in Rome
Published on the Financial Times: November 16 2009
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s billionaire prime minister, and his family hold more than €60m in accounts registered with the Milan branch of a Swiss bank that is under investigation for money laundering, a television programme claimed last night.
The programme, Report, state television’s highest profile documentary series, focused on Bank Arner, a Swiss bank based in Lugano. The Milan branch is under investigation by prosecutors for suspected money laundering. Its management was taken over last year by the Bank of Italy, the central bank, which also suspected money laundering, according to bank documents. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Italian news, Italian politics , Arner Bank, Berlusconi, Financial Times, guy dinmore, Milena Gabanelli, Paolo Mondani
November 14, 2009 • 8:00 pm
by Guy Dinmore in Rome
Published: November 14 2009
The Italian Mafia moved in quickly. For the mob it was the firesale of the century when almost everything and everyone could be had on the cheap, from discotheques to material for nuclear bombs.
In the moment when the Berlin Wall was breached 20 years ago, Italian investigators intercepted a telephone conversation to overhear a mafioso ordering his agent in the city to cross immediately to the east and start buying.
“What?” the agent asked. “Restaurants, discotheques, everything,” the boss replied. “Everything! Everything!” Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Italian news , Financial Times, guy dinmore, ndrangheta
November 12, 2009 • 3:10 pm
By Guy Dinmore in Rome
published on FT on 12 november 2009
Italian finance police, mounting an operation codenamed “Gone with the wind”, said on Wednesday they had arrested two of the country’s most prominent businessmen in the wind energy sector on charges of fraud and are investigating their sales of wind farms to foreign companies.
Oreste Vigorito, head of the IVPC energy company and president of Italy’s National Association of Wind Energy, was arrested on Tuesday in Naples. Vito Nicastri, a Sicilian business associate, was arrested in Alcamo, Sicily. Two other men were arrested in Sicily and the Naples area, while 11 others were charged but not arrested. Police said the charges related to fraud involved in obtaining public subsidies to construct wind farms. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Italian economy, Italian news, Italy - renewable energy , Financial Times, guy dinmore, Italian companies, mafia, renewable energy, wind power
November 11, 2009 • 3:11 pm
by Guy Dinmore in Rome
Published: November 11 2009
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s centre-right prime minister, on Tuesday reached an agreement with a key ally on judicial reforms that opposition politicians feared were designed primarily to terminate two trials pending against the billionaire media magnate. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Italian news, Italian politics , Berlusconi, Financial Times, guy dinmore
