LONDON (Reuters) – Italy’s prime minister said on Tuesday that there was a “huge risk” that Britain would leave the European Union in the next few years and he urged other countries to work to reduce the prospect of an exit. “We are convinced that in the Europ... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Italian actress and long-time Hollywood star Sophia Loren is set to return to the big screen in a short film directed by her son, which they are shooting in Naples this week. Loren, 78, will star in her son Edoardo Ponti’s adaptation of Jean C... More »
MILAN/PARIS (Reuters) – Hutchison Whampoa is losing patience with Telecom Italia over lack of progress on a proposed merger of their Italian mobile phone units, people familiar with the talks said, casting doubt on prospects for a deal. The Hong Kong-based con... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italian publisher RCS Mediagroup’s main shareholder John Elkann on Monday dismissed press reports of a link-up between the loss-making group and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, where he sits on the board. When asked to comment on a possible News ... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – It seemed like a bright idea at the time. By linking the choice of president of the executive European Commission to the European Parliament elections in the 2009 Lisbon Treaty, EU leaders hoped to reverse rising abstentionism and overcome Eu... More »
ROME (Reuters) – The body of actor James Gandolfini, who died of a heart attack in Rome last week, was flown out of Italy on Sunday on a flight bound for New York, Rome airport authorities said. Gandolfini, best known for his leading role in the Emmy-winning s... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – The European Space Agency signed final contracts with Thales Alenia Space Italy for work on a pair of missions to assess if the planet Mars has or ever had life, officials said at the Paris Airshow this week. Until last year, the ExoMars prog... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Cheered like a rock star when he passed through Berlin five years ago on his way to the White House, Barack Obama faces a cooler reception and tough questions about U.S. spying methods when he returns next week for talks with Angela Merkel a... More »
VIENNA (Reuters) – Alexander Pereira, the next manager of Italian opera house La Scala, would like to have an Italian music director, ideally Riccardo Muti or Claudio Abbado, he told an Austrian newspaper. Pereira, an Austrian who is now artistic director of t... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – World stock indexes and the euro advanced on Monday as the formation of a new government in Italy eased uncertainty about the political future of the country, the third-largest economy in the euro zone, while the S&P 500 closed at a record... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Prime Minister-designate Enrico Letta saw “improving” chances of success as he began negotiations on Thursday to form a new government and end a nearly two-month-old stalemate in the euro zone’s third-largest economy. The 46-year-old deputy he... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission warned of deepening economic problems in France, Italy and Spain on Wednesday, and said Slovenia must take urgent steps to offset the risk of a wider destabilization across the euro zone. Unveiling its second review... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Italian President Giorgio Napolitano expressed despair on Tuesday at fierce criticism of his latest plan to end a post-election deadlock that has raised fears of months of instability in the euro zone’s third largest economy. Two groups of “wi... More »
MILAN/MADRID (Reuters) – Small companies struggling to repay loans in Italy and Spain signal bigger problems on the horizon for the euro zone after the dust has settled on Cyprus’s last-ditch bailout this week. Defaults by small and medium-sized enterprises (S... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – India would be breaking international law if it stops Italy’s ambassador from leaving the country in a dispute over two Italian marines charged with killing two Indian fishermen, the European Union said on Tuesday. The statement was the bl... More »
ROME (Reuters) – A large majority of Italians are in favor of staying in the euro zone and are also against holding a referendum on membership, an opinion poll in Corriere della Sera newspaper showed on Sunday. Italy’s role in the currency bloc has been widely... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – France, Spain and Italy dragged the euro zone into a deeper downturn in February, according to business surveys that showed the chasm between these countries and prosperous Germany widening yet again. While British services companies had a s... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European policymakers should be asking themselves “who lost Italy” after a grassroots revolt against austerity, unemployment and the political elite caused an electoral earthquake in the euro zone’s number three economy. Instead, most are ... More »
DUBLIN (Reuters) – European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Thursday he was confident that Italy’s next government would honor its commitments and would not derail growing confidence in the euro zone. Investors are nervous over whether the pol... More »
ROME (Reuters) – An Italian political crisis that has rattled the euro zone deepened on Wednesday when two party leaders ruled out the most likely options to form a government and avoid a new election. Populist leader Beppe Grillo slammed the door on overtures... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s chance of stable government after elections this weekend may rely on forcing two awkward partners into coalition: former European Commissioner Mario Monti and an openly gay leftist he has vowed not to work with. The mutual sniping betw... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s election campaign drew to a close on Friday with the weak performance of outgoing premier Mario Monti key to a deeply uncertain and potentially unstable result. Political leaders were holding their final rallies before a campaigning ba... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s center-right plans to obstruct the government expected to emerge from an election in less than two weeks time and block legislation, Northern League leader Roberto Maroni said on Wednesday. The vow by Maroni, the closest electoral all... More »
ROME (Reuters) – As European Central Bank head Mario Draghi prepares to become banking supervisor for the euro zone, he can ill afford the charge that under his leadership, Italy’s central bank let scandal-hit Monte Paschi off the hook with woeful oversight. T... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s troubled Monte dei Paschi bank said on Monday it had no evidence of bribery in a 2007 takeover now under scrutiny over alleged corruption, but acknowledged accounting irregularities over derivatives deals under previous management. Fa... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti weighed in on the scandal surrounding Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena on Thursday, rejecting suggestions that the authorities had failed to spot large trading losses threatening the bank. Already in need of ... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European leaders agreed on Friday to press on with further steps to tackle their debt crisis but German Chancellor Angela Merkel threw out a proposal to boost risk-sharing with a fund to help euro zone states in trouble. Germany’s rejectio... More »
MILAN/MADRID (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund called on the eve of a European Union summit for both Spain and Italy to seek euro zone assistance to draw a line under the bloc’s debt crisis, but Rome has rebuffed the idea and Madrid seems likely to a... More »
NICOSIA (Reuters) – Spain told euro zone finance ministers on Friday it will set clear deadlines for structural reforms by the end of the month, in a move European diplomats said would pave the way for an aid request before long to help it tackle its debt pile... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italian three-year borrowing costs fell to their lowest in almost two years at an auction on Thursday, adding to signs the euro zone’s debt crisis has been tempered by bold action by the European Central Bank. The Treasury also paid lower yie... More »
SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Europe’s debt crisis is undermining the common values that once united the continent and the single currency risks opening up new rifts across the European Union, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Sunday. Calling for the 27-nation... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has taken the gloves off in his fight to save Italy from disaster in the euro zone debt crisis, daring to stand up to European paymaster Germany in a way unthinkable a few months back. His change of attitude ... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Monday warned politicians to rein in the language they use about the euro zone debt crisis after a weekend of ugly exchanges in the German press over Italy and Greece. Italian Prime Minister Mario... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Italy needs moral support from Germany but not its cash, Prime Minister Mario Monti said in an interview published on Sunday as German conservatives renewed calls for Greece to leave the euro zone. The Italian leader also told weekly magazin... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – European Central Bank President Mario Draghi was under intense pressure from investors, European leaders and even the United States to deliver on Thursday on his pledge to do whatever it takes to save the euro. Draghi faced the biggest te... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Political leaders in Greece have agreed on most of the austerity measures demanded by its creditors and are now eyeing pension and wage cuts to find the final 1.5 billion euros of savings still needed, a source close to the talks said on Sun... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – European Central Bank President Mario Draghi pledged on Thursday to do whatever was necessary to protect the euro zone from collapse, sending a strong signal that inflated Spanish and Italian borrowing costs were in his sights. Fears about t... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s revised growth and budget targets are consistent with a balanced budget in the medium term and creating a “sizable” primary surplus to cut the country’s massive 1.9-trillion-euro debt, according to an internal European Commission docum... More »
