Culture Lifestyle

(ANSA) - Rome, November 19 - Doctors without Borders (MSF) are closing their office on Lampedusa because the government's push-back policy has caused a drop in arrivals of illegal immigrants, the organisation said on Thursday.

Referring to the joint Italy-Libya agreement to prevent illegal immigration on Italian shores, MSF said it was "very concerned about plight of migrants being sent back to Libya".

(ANSA) - Naples, November 19 - The number of children in Italy born to unmarried couples has tripled in the past ten years, according to a new report from national statistics bureau Istat.

In 1998, the report said, children of unwed parents represented 1.7% of the total born that year, whereas in 2008 this percentage leapt to 4.4%.

The percentage of children from separated parents rose during this decade from 6% to 9.4%, Istat added.

The report was commissioned by the labor ministry and presented Thursday at the second day of the National Conference on Infancy here.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 18 - Over 1.7 million children in Italy are living in poverty, according to a report by Save the Children released Wednesday.

Compiled for a United Nations dossier leading up to International Children's Day on November 20, the report estimated that one in five Italians living beneath the poverty line are under the age of 18.

Over 61% of poor children in Italy are under 11 years old and over 72% live in the country's economically flagging south.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 17 - Some 75% of Italians this Christmas will buy domestic goods to put under the tree, a much higher percentage than in other countries, where an average of 59% buy national products for the holidays, the Coldiretti farmers union said on Wednesday.

The finding was part of a report called 'Xmas 2009 Survey' by the Deloitte research group which was presented at a seminar here entitled 'The Real Made in Italy is a Boost to Business and the Nation'.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 17 - Wizards from around the world will swoop into Rome later this week for the 2009 world championships of the fantasy game 'Magic: the Gathering'.

Some 5,000 participants from over 60 countries are expected to take part in more than 25 tournaments of the cult game to be held November 19-22 at the Palazzo dei Congress convention center.

Magic: The Gathering is one of the first modern collectible card games which has an estimated six million players in over seventy countries.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 17 - Nearly one in four Italian children are living at or below the poverty line, European Parliament Deputy Speaker Roberta Angelilli announced on Tuesday.

Reporting on EU funding for the disadvantaged, Angelilli said that 27% of Italian households struggled to make ends meet, a figure which rises to 39% in the country's economically lagging south.

The EU average, including new entries Bulgaria and Romania, is 25%.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 17 - Thousands of student protestors took to the streets across Italy on Tuesday for International Student Day demonstrations against the government's package of education reforms.

Organizers said 150,000 protestors turned out in at least 50 cities to demonstrate against cuts in education spending and moves towards privatization in the university system.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 17 - Today's adolescents appear to be discouraged about their prospects for earning a university degree and finding a steady job, according to a new study out on Tuesday.

A poll included in an annual report from the Eurispes research group found that 33.6% of young people believe it will be very difficult to get a degree, 49.4% think it will be hard to get a steady job and 42.9% doubt they will find a job that they like.

(ANSA) - Milan, November 17 - Police in Milan on Tuesday arrested 14 people accused of smuggling illegal immigrants into Italy and selling them false documents.

The arrests followed an investigation into fake work papers sold by a Milan restaurant owner to North African immigrants at prices from 2,000 to 7,000 euros each.

Police also seized real estate valuing 40 million euros allegedly financed by the smuggler's profits.

(ANSA) - Pompeii, November 16 - The world-famous archaeological site of Pompeii is seeking adoptive parents from around the globe for its community of stray dogs, as part of a drive to improve the lives of animals living there.

Strays have lived on the site for decades, scavenging for food, posing a health risk to visitors and undermining the site, Pompeii's emergency commissioner Marcello Fiori said on Monday.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 16 - Italy's popular SuperEnalotto game has already raked in over three billion euros this year and is expected to break its all-time record of 3.15 billion euros set in 1999, game organizers Sisal said on Monday.

Money collected from SuperEnalotto bets already broke last year's record intake of 2.509 billion euros by mid-September and the 2008 record was a 29.3% jump over the previous year.

(ANSA) - Palermo, November 16 - Couriers delivering orders for Mafia superboss Domenico Raccuglia were the key to his undoing, Sicilian police said Monday.

Touted as the most significant blow to the Mafia since the 2007 capture of Palermo strongman Salvatore Lo Piccolo, Raccuglia's arrest on Sunday brings an end to a 13-year manhunt for the second most wanted mobster in Sicily.

(ANSA) - Turin, November 16 - There are an estimated 300,000 child soldiers in 86 countries but their number is likely much higher as more children are being recruited for active combat, according to experts meeting at an international conference in Turin on Monday.

"You have to take account of girl soldiers who are often not included in the estimates....the increase in conflicts means that the number of child soldiers has probably increased," said Margherita Boniver, the Italian government's special envoy for humanitarian emergencies.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 16 - The suicide rate in Italian prisons is the highest it has been in some 20 years and could climb even higher before the end of the year, according to Luigi Manconi, a former interior undersecretary and chairman of an inmates' rights association.

So far this year 64 inmates have taken their own lives, the most recent in the Tolmezzo penitentiary on Saturday.

"Statistics confirm an atrocious fact: the suicide rate in prisons is 15-17 times higher than on the outside," Manconi said.

(ANSA) - Siena, November 13 - A medieval market that was once the heart of this Tuscan town is to flourish once more in Siena's historic Piazza del Campo, the site of the world-famous Palio horse race each summer.

The colours, sights, smells and sounds of the bustling weekly market will return to Siena's beautiful central square this Saturday.

The one-off event has been organized to commemorate 700 years since the medieval city's renowned collection of duties and rights, the Costituto, was set down in the common tongue.