We are sailing: Hundreds of yachts take to the sea for annual regatta off coast of Italy

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Barcolana Regatta8

 

It started off as in informal race between 51 locals in 1969 to mark the end of the sailing season for another year.

But 45 years on the Barcolana regatta now attracts 2,000 boats from all across the globe, transforming the coastline with a bevy of boats.

The week-long celebration of sailing was capped off today with the Barcolana International Sailing Race, with hundreds of yachts taking part.

Hundreds of thousands of people spent the week at Trieste’s biggest annual event, enjoying classic boat races, land events and night-time sailing.

The gathering is the biggest of its kind anywhere in the Mediterranean and turns the Gulf of Trieste into the unofficial sailing capital of Europe for seven days.

Everyone from brave amateurs all the way up to world-class helmsmen can take part in the race which is always held on the second Sunday of October.

Offering something for everyone the event includes a King of the Wind event in which people with disabilities race in specially adapted boats.

 

Barcolana Regatta

Hard-up Italy to sell 50 historic sites in bid to raise £425million to pay off government debt

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italy-Orsini Odescalchi castleThe Italian government is to sell scores of historic properties to help it tackle its huge budget deficit.

A haunted fortress, a cardinal’s palace and an island in the Venetian lagoon are among 50 sites for sale.

The move recalls 2012, when Greece was forced to sell off some its beautiful islands to foreign buyers, to chip away at its enormous debts.

The Italian government hope that the nation’s treasures will be bought by private businesses and converted into hotels, restaurants and museums, bringing much needed employment and international investment.

Minister for the economy Fabrizio Saccomanni aims to make £425million from the sell-off.

It was approved as part of an emergency decree aimed at keeping Italy’s 2013 budget deficit within 3 per cent to avoid corrective action by Brussels.

The ‘Kill Public Debt’ plan originally listed 350 properties but officials now deem that some assets, such as military airbases, are poorly suited for the commercial market.

The properties include Orsini Castle, which sits above its own feudal village near Viterbo, about 60miles from Rome.

The medieval fort was built for Pope Nicholas III in the 1270s and has a Euro 15 million price tag. Said to be haunted, it was used as a prison from the mid-19th century to 1989 and has since been an art gallery.

 

Germany Again Urges Ukraine to Free Tymoshenko

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Germany has once against urged Ukraine to release jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko or risk losing a proposed free-trade agreement with the European Union.

Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year sentence on charges of abuse of office. The EU views her case as politically motivated and has warned that it will not sign the free-trade deal with Kiev in November, if Tymoshenko remains jailed. Germany has offered to fly her to Berlin for treatment of a back problem after she is freed on humanitarian grounds.

Speaking after talks with Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych on Thursday, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle urged Kiev to solve the Tymoshenko problem because “we support Ukraine’s path to Europe.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara said authorities are looking for a solution.

 

Dutch Apologize to Russia Over Diplomat’s Arrest

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The Netherlands has issued an apology to Russia over the arrest and detention over the weekend of a Russian diplomat by police in The Hague.

Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans says in a written statement Wednesday that an investigation has established that the arrest of Dmitry Borodin late Saturday was a breach of the Vienna Convention that regulates diplomatic relations between nations, including diplomatic immunity.

For the breach, “the state of the Netherlands offers the Russian Federation its apologies,” the statement says.

However Timmermans also says he “understands” the action of police officers who arrested Borodin — a statement unlikely to appease Russian demands for action against officers involved.

The statement adds that the two countries “remain in talks” about the situation.

 

Topless Women Stage Pro-Abortion Protest in Spain

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Topless Women Stage Pro-Abortion Protest in SpainWomen from the feminist group Femen have staged a topless protest in the Spanish Parliament against the conservative government’s planned abortion law reform.

Three women standing in the lower house’s public gallery took off their tops and chanted “abortion is sacred” as Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon spoke during a weekly session Wednesday.

One of the women climbed up on to a gallery railing and wrapped her arms around a pillar as she shouted down at the politicians.

The women, who had the message painted on their bodies, were dragged away by parliament ushers after some three minutes.

Ruiz-Gallardon opposes Spain’s abortion without restrictions until the 14th week and wants it once again only available under certain conditions concerning the health of the mother and the fetus.

 

Streets of Basel paved with gold: 15 TONS of five cent coins are dumped on city’s streets as protesters demand a basic minimum income for every Swiss household

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For years it’s long been regarded as one of Europe’s richest countries.

As Europe continues to struggle with financial turbulence and unemployment, activists in Switzerland have decided to take a stand and demand a basic income to each citizen on a monthly basis.

Activists piled 8 Mio five-centime pieces, one representing each citizen in Switzerland, in the safe room of the ‘Basler Volksbank’ bank building, in Basel, Switzerland.

Then the team from ‘Generation Basic Income Initiative’ dumped the 15 tons of money in front of the parliament building in Bern, the capital of Switzerland.

The initiative aims to have a minimum monthly disposal household income of CHF 2,500 (US$ 2,700) given by the government to every citizen living in Switzerland.

The organisation presented 130,000 signatures to Parliament urging them to pass a law guaranteeing a basic income of CHF 2,500 for all Swiss nationals.

The Swiss Parliament must address or hold a referendum over any issue which has gathered more than 100,000 signatures.

According to Schmidt the Swiss government is angry ‘because now they have to look into this initiative’.

According to The Richest, Switzerland does not have a minimum wage written into law.

 

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Mini-skirt ban at Hungary university prompts female students to turn up in knickers only

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Students took off their clothes-hungary universityStudents took off their clothes in class in a protest against a new strict dress code at a Hungary university.

They were angered by the new strict rules introduced by the University of Kaposvar’s president.

Even a professor at the arts school took part to protest the code which bans dresses showing too much cleavage and miniskirts.

The target list also excessive makeup and flip-flops as well as unkempt hair and fingernails.

Some of the students undressed down to their underwear, while other seemed to be naked in a video of the protest posted online by a local news site.

Students said they plan to continue their protest and attend classes in flip-flops and beach towels on Monday.

The new dress code was revealed to students in a letter that detailed when attending classes male students need to wear dark suits and shoes, while women must wear a jacket, blouse and trousers.

The rector did make an allowance for lighter clothing during warm summer days, prompting some students to make the underwear protest.

‘We were appropriately dressed but the class room was so warm we removed some clothing as is permitted,’ said one student.

 

Device Explodes in Spain Cathedral, No One Hurt

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An explosive device has caused a blast inside a large cathedral in the northeastern Spanish city of Zaragoza while parishioners were inside but no one was hurt.

A spokesman for the regional government in Zaragoza said the explosion happened at about 1:50 p.m. local time inside the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pilar and that people inside were evacuated over concerns that there might be more devices.

The spokesman says no group has taken responsibility. He could not immediately provide details on damage to the interior of the cathedral.

 

3 Miners Missing After Accident in Germany

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Three miners have been reported missing after a controlled detonation at a potassium mine in eastern Germany led to a gas leak there.

The German news agency dpa quoted an unidentified official at the mining company, K + S GmbH, as saying that carbon dioxide was released by the detonation Tuesday in the mine in Unterbreizbach in the state of Thuringia.

The official said two mines and the shaft installations above ground had to be evacuated, and that the gas leak led to a large release of dust inside the mine where the detonation occurred and above ground.

Dpa said seven miners were initially trapped but four of them quickly rescued without injuries. Rescue personnel were searching for the three missing miners about 700 meters (about 2,300 feet) below ground.

 

Popes John XXIII and John Paul II to be declared saints in April

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Popes John XXIII and John Paul II will be declared saints in April, the Vatican said Monday.

The announcement came after Pope Francis met with cardinals to discuss the planned canonizations of two of his predecessors. The ceremony will take place on April 27.

It will be the first time two popes will be canonized at the same time.

To be named a saint involves a series of steps, but the qualifications are straightforward, according to the veteran Vatican analyst John Allen.

“You put a holy life and two miracles together, according to the Catholic system, you’ve got a saint,” he said.

The calls to canonize John Paul II began even before he had been buried. People attending his funeral in 2005 held banners saying “Santo Subito,” short for “make him a saint now.”

Bypassing the normal five-year waiting period, Pope Benedict XVI set in motion the process to canonize his predecessor.

 

13 Dead as Migrant Boat Runs Aground off Sicily

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The Italian coast guard says 13 bodies have washed up on a Sicilian beach after a boat carrying some 200 migrants ran aground as it approached the shore.

Coast guard official Marco Di Milla says rescue boats and divers are in the waters off Scicli, on Sicily’s southern coast, looking for other possible bodies. The nationalities of the migrants aren’t known, but the dead were all male.

Di Milla reported witnesses saying that many of the migrants aboard the ship swam ashore and ran away.

Sicily and its islands are the frequent destination for smugglers’ boats leaving from Tunisia or Libya with would-be migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. In recent weeks there has also been an upswing in the number of Syrian migrants arriving.

 

Divers Find Human Remains Near Italian Shipwreck

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costa concordiaDivers have spotted human remains near the shipwrecked Costa Concordia off an Italian island, and authorities say DNA tests will determine if they are those of two victims whose bodies were never found.

The search for the last of the 32 dead resumed after the capsized cruise liner was rotated upward last week in a salvage operation 20 months after the Concordia crashed into a reef off GiglioIsland on Jan. 13, 2012. Civil Protection chief Franco Gabrielli told reporters on Giglio that relatives of the two victims — a female Italian passenger and a male Indian waiter — were notified after divers saw remains Thursday morning.

The remains were spotted in the sea near the central part of the ship, where survivors had said the two were last seen.

 

Thieves steal £1m of gold bars from Air France flight weeks after airline was used to smuggle £170m worth of pure cocaine

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gold-France-thievesThieves have taken £1million worth of gold bars from an Air France plane leading to accusations of an inside job.

The solid gold ingots were part of a multi-million pound cargo of nine cases containing 300 kilograms of gold.

Detectives said that 44 kilos of gold ingots were taken from a plane travelling from the French capital to Zurich last Thursday.

They were being handled by the American Brink’s secure transportation company, which regularly transfers valuables on the same route.

The nine cases set off from Charles de Gaulle airport but only seven cases reached the tarmac on the other side, police said.

The news comes just two weeks after £170million worth of pure cocaine was found being shipped from South America to Paris on board another Air France aircraft.

 

Thieves steal £1m of gold bars from Air France flight weeks after airline was used to smuggle £170m worth of pure cocaine

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gold-France-thievesThieves have taken £1million worth of gold bars from an Air France plane leading to accusations of an inside job.

The solid gold ingots were part of a multi-million pound cargo of nine cases containing 300 kilograms of gold.

Detectives said that 44 kilos of gold ingots were taken from a plane travelling from the French capital to Zurich last Thursday.

They were being handled by the American Brink’s secure transportation company, which regularly transfers valuables on the same route.

The nine cases set off from Charles de Gaulle airport but only seven cases reached the tarmac on the other side, police said.

The news comes just two weeks after £170million worth of pure cocaine was found being shipped from South America to Paris on board another Air France aircraft.

$270 million worth of cocaine found on Air France flight

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france-cocaineThere was something odd about the 30 suitcases that showed up on a flight from Venezuela. The colorful bags weren’t registered to any of the passengers on the plane.

When French officials opened them up, they discovered why — 1.3 tons of pure cocaine were stuffed inside the anonymous bags.

The catch was made on September 11, but French authorities didn’t publicize the find until Saturday.

On Sunday, Venezuela’s Public Ministry said that authorities had detained three members of the National Guard in connection with the incident.

It wasn’t immediately clear exactly what they are accused of doing.

The suitcases came from Caracas aboard an Air France flight to Paris, but did not match any of the passengers on board, CNN affiliate BFMTV reported.

“Several” people have been taken in custody, French Interior Minister Manuel Valls told reporters Saturday.

Venezuelan authorities are also investigating.

 

Zookeeper Killed by Tiger in Germany

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tigerGerman authorities say a tiger attacked and killed his keeper at a zoo in the country’s northwest.

The local fire department said the 57-year-old keeper was killed in the Allwetterzoo Muenster on Thursday afternoon after apparently not noticing he had left one animal behind after he moved a group of tigers into a new enclosure, the dpa news agency reported.

The tiger then attacked the keeper and bit him fatally on the neck. The zoo had no immediate comment and further details weren’t immediately available.

 

Germany Gives $2.7M to Help Destroy Syria Weapons

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Germany says it’s giving 2 million euros ($2.7 million) to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to help it oversee the destruction of Syria’s arms stocks.

An agreement last Saturday between Russia and the U.S. called for an inventory of Syria’s chemical weapons within a week, and for all components of the program to be out of the country or destroyed by mid-2014. The Hague, Netherlands-based OPCW will have to oversee that process.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle had offered technical or financial support to help destroy the weapons. On Thursday, he said Berlin has decided to contribute extra funding so that the chemical weapons watchdog can “deal with the Herculean task.”

Pickpockets Who Targeted Paris Tourists Arrested

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French police have arrested a gang of pickpockets who dressed like tourists in order to target visitors — mostly Asian tourists — to Paris’ most famous museums and monuments.

The group was sophisticated, dangling cameras from their necks to blend in, always buying entry tickets and slipping away unnoticed. They operated at the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay, the Eiffel Tower and the Chateau de Versailles, bringing in as much as 2,000 euros ($2,700) per day by grabbing the wallets of tourists, according to Commissioner Stephane Gouaud.

He said a group of fewer than 10 people was arrested Tuesday after a weekslong investigation. But he warned that other pickpockets are no doubt still at large.

The group arrested this week loitered in the most visited areas of the attractions they targeted, hanging out near the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo in the Louvre, Gouaud said.

Between language and cultural barriers and the fact that many tourists are only in town for a short period, Gouaud said the thefts were almost never reported, complicating the investigation.

Spanish Town Seeks Lottery Winner Who Lost Ticket

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Spanish lottery winning ticket worth nearly £4m still unclaimedA northern Spanish town has started a search for a person who bought a lottery ticket that won 4.7 million euros ($6.3 million) but left the coupon behind in a lottery office.

The ticket for June 30, 2012 was found in a Coruna town lottery office and handed in to authorities.

The town hall website Tuesday posted notice of the ticket among the city’s lost-and-found items along with cellphones, keys and wallets.

Mayor Carlos Negreira joked in a statement he would be the first mayor to search for a millionaire “not to ask for money but to give it.”

Negreira said there would be rigorous checks on the authenticity of any ownership claims. If the original purchaser is not found the money will go to the ticket finder.

 

Pope rings pregnant woman to tell her he will PERSONALLY baptise her child after she wrote to him saying the father wanted her to have an abortion

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Pope FrancisPope Francis has telephoned a woman who wrote to him to tell her he will baptise her unborn after she refused to have an abortion.

Shop worker Anna Romano, 35, was on holiday when she received the call from the Argentinian pope, who was elected in March this year.

Anna, from Arezzo near Florence, central Italy, had written to Pope Francis earlier this summer to describe her turmoil at having discovered she was pregnant by a man, who unknown to her, was already married with a child and who demanded she terminate the pregnancy.

Anna, from Arezzo near Florence, central Italy, had written to Pope Francis earlier this summer to describe her turmoil at having discovered she was pregnant by a man, who unknown to her, was already married with a child and who demanded she terminate the pregnancy.

‘I told him that I would not have an abortion and told him to get out of my life.’

Anna added how she was ‘in a desperate and anguished state’ and that she was writing to Pope Francis because she had ‘no-one else to turn to, after being left humiliated and betrayed’.

‘He reassured me and said a child was a gift from God, a sign of Divine Providence and that I would never be left alone. He said that as Christians we should never be afraid.

‘He told me I had been very brave and strong for my unborn child. I told him that I wanted to baptise the baby when it was born but I was afraid as I was divorced and a single mother but he said he would be my spiritual father and he would baptise my baby.

‘I don’t know the sex of the baby but if the Pope does baptise it and it’s a boy I have no doubt of his name – Francis.’

A Vatican spokesman said: ‘I know nothing of this telephone call but then again we knew nothing of the others. The Pope doesn’t tell us when he makes these calls – he just does them and then we find out about them later.’

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