Florence: Italy must adopt a zero tolerance policy towards racism in football if they are to eradicate the problem from the sport, national team coach Cesare Prandelli said on Monday. A number of Italian clubs have been punished for racist incidents recently.
"It is a serious problem, a problem that is not only the national team's or Milan's but Italian football's," Prandelli said. "If we want to be credible on a European and worldwide level, we can't tolerate anything anymore. It starts with a 'boo' and then you don't know where it will go. It is a long path, but you have to make it clear to everyone how they have to behave."
AC Milan forward Mario Balotelli has said he will walk off the field the next time he is racially abused, following the example of strike partner Kevin-Prince Boateng, who led his team-mates off the pitch when he was racially abused during an exhibition game against an Italian fourth-tier side in January.
"It's never happened in the national team but we would be the first to go onto the pitch and embrace him so he wouldn't go off," Prandelli said....
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09:15 AM, May 21, 2013
Milan: The nightclub dancer at the centre of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's "bunga bunga" sex trial told a court on Friday that guests at the media tycoon's parties dressed as nuns, nurses and US President Barack Obama. Karima El Mahroug, better known by her stage name "Ruby the Heartstealer", spoke as a witness in a trial at which talent scout Lele Mora, television anchor Emilio Fede and former...
10:20 PM, May 17, 2013
New Delhi: CBI on Thursday quizzed a senior Air Force officer as witness in connection with alleged corruption in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP Helicopter deal in which former Air Chief is one of the suspects. Without naming the officer, CBI sources said an Air Marshal level officer was examined as witness to clarify technical issues related to the tender of 12 helicopters for which UK-based AgustaWestland was chosen as...
10:21 PM, May 16, 2013
Rome: Prosecutors have urged a Milan court to hand a six-year prison sentence and life ban from office to former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi for having sex with a minor and for abuse of power. Prosecutor Ilda Boccassini asked the court to give Berlusconi five years in jail for corruption and one year for paying an underage prostitute for sex. Moroccan belly dancer Karima el-Mahroug, nicknamed "Ruby the Heart Stealer",...
10:48 AM, May 14, 2013
New Delhi: The NIA probe into the killing of two Kerala fishermen is likely to be delayed as several key documents are being translated from Malayalam and Italian to English and the agency needs to question all foreign witnesses present on the Italian ship who left India long ago. Several key documents, including the FIR filed by the Kerala Police and log-book of ship 'Enrica Lexie', were either recorded in...
06:45 PM, May 13, 2013
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday got transcripts of phone conversations between alleged middlemen from Italy. The transcripts are related to phone conversations between alleged middlemen and officials of a Defence firm, in which the Italian government has 30 per cent stake. The transcripts of the telephone calls were handed over to the Defence Ministry, which has been made as an "affected party" by the Italian...
04:40 PM, May 13, 2013
New Delhi: CBI is likely to get transcripts of phone conversations of Italian middlemen allegedly involved in the VVIP helicopter deal, intercepted by law enforcement authorities following court orders in the European country. CBI sources said the documents would be received by the Defence Ministry and later, handed over to the investigating agency to help it in its probe in the multi-crore deal. They said the records are related to...
10:26 PM, May 09, 2013
Milan: A Milan appeals court upheld a four-year sentence for tax fraud against former prime minister and centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday, adding to the complications facing Italy's fragile coalition government. In addition to the jail sentence for tax fraud in connection with the purchase of broadcasting rights by his television network Mediaset, the court's ruling would also bar Berlusconi from holding public office for five years. However, neither...
07:40 AM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: CBI has issued a lookout notice against a former IAF chief in connection with alleged irregularities in procurement of VVIP helicopters, Defence Minister AK Antony told the Lok Sabha on Monday. In a written reply to the House, he said, "CBI has issued Lookout notice against a number of individuals in India including a former chief of IAF in connection with the said case." Though Antony did not...
08:15 PM, May 06, 2013
New Delhi: Facing a CBI probe for its alleged role in the payments of kickbacks in the VVIP chopper deal, Anglo-Italian AgustaWestland on Tuesday said it has sought time from the Defence Ministry to discuss its contract with India. "AgustaWestland International Ltd (as the formal 'seller') has formally sought bilateral discussions with the Ministry of Defence, which is a legal obligation under the contract and is currently awaiting a response,"...
04:06 AM, May 01, 2013
Rome: A man was arrested on Sunday after shooting and wounding two police officers outside the Italian prime minister's office in central Rome, police said. One of the wounded law enforcers had been shot in the neck and was in a serious condition, a police official said. The shootings took place as Prime Minister Enrico Letta's new cabinet was being sworn in at the president's palace around one kilometre away....
03:42 PM, Apr 28, 2013
Rome: Italian centre-left politician Enrico Letta named a coalition government on Saturday, making one of Silvio Berlusconi's closest allies deputy prime minister and ending two months of damaging political stalemate. Letta has said his priorities would be the economy, unemployment and restoring faith in Italy's discredited political institutions as well as trying to turn Europe away from austerity to focus more on growth and investment. An inconclusive general election in...
06:35 AM, Apr 28, 2013
Rome: Italian centre-left politician Enrico Letta said on Saturday he had won support of other parties to form a coalition government that will include one of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's closest allies as deputy prime minister. Letta met President Giorgio Napolitano after talks with Berlusconi and leaders of his centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party to confirm that he had reached an accord which would clear the way for...
11:10 PM, Apr 27, 2013
New Delhi: Amid concerns by Italy on the possibility of death sentence being imposed on its two marines accused of killing Indian fishermen, India on Saturday said no question of death penalty arises. Clarifying the latest Supreme Court order in the matter in which the apex court allowed NIA to probe the case against Italian marines, official sources said the order had been read out of context leading to misleading...
10:08 PM, Apr 27, 2013
Rome: Italian politician Enrico Letta received a mandate to form a new government from President Giorgio Napolitano, an official at the Quirinale Palace announced on Wednesday. Letta, the nephew of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's long-time chief of staff Gianni Letta and deputy leader of the Democratic Party, is considered a moderate acceptable to the centre-right. His appointment was announced by Donato Marra, head of Napolitano's secretariat. ...
06:05 PM, Apr 24, 2013
Palermo: The Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova rallied to beat seventh-ranked Sara Errani 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 Sunday after a five-hour rain delay and cut Italy's lead to 2-1 in the Fed Cup semifinals. The eighth-ranked Kvitova won the final 11 games of the rainy match, overwhelming Errani with her attacking game. Kvitova, who has led the Czechs to the Fed Cup title the past two years, held a 26-6 edge in...
12:46 AM, Apr 22, 2013
Rome: Italy's Parliament re-elected Giorgio Napolitano to an unprecedented second term as president, after party leaders persuaded the 87-year-old to serve again in hopes of easing the hostility that has thwarted formation of a new government. Napolitano easily surpassed the simple majority required to be elected on Saturday afternoon. He garnered 738 votes, far more than the 504 needed for victory for another seven-year mandate. Parliament had a much harder...
06:34 AM, Apr 21, 2013
Palermo: Roberta Vinci will face Petra Kvitova on the opening day of the Fed Cup semi-finals between Italy and the two-time defending champion Czech Republic. Vinci beat former Wimbledon champion Kvitova in straight sets in Poland last weekend to move up to a career-high ranking of No. 12. The semifinal opens Saturday with seventh-ranked Sara Errani facing the 25th-ranked Lucie Safarova. After reverse singles on Sunday on the red clay...
06:22 PM, Apr 19, 2013
Monte Carlo: Rafael Nadal calmly continued his bid for a ninth consecutive crown at the Monte Carlo Masters with a 6-2 6-4 third-round victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany on Thursday The Spanish world number five recorded his 44th win in a row in the first big claycourt event of the season to set up a quarter-final encounter with 34th-ranked Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria. The 21st-ranked Kolschreiber did not pose...
06:12 PM, Apr 18, 2013
New Delhi: Aeromatrix Info Solutions private limited, an accused firm in the Rs 3600 crore VVIP helicopter deal scam, has moved a Delhi court seeking defreezing of its bank account for paying salaries to its employees. The Chandigarh-based firm, in its petition, has said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has frozen its bank account having around Rs 1.4 crore in it and they want money to pay their employees....
05:58 PM, Apr 17, 2013
