Italy

MADRID; 27 Jan 2019; AA: Death toll has risen to seven from Friday's midair collision between a tourist airplane and a helicopter over the Italian Alps, according to Italian authorities on Saturday.

A Prosecutor's Office in Italy said the last two missing bodies were recovered, bringing the death toll to seven which includes French, Swedish and Italian nationals.

The crash also injured two people seriously.

24 Jan 2019; DW: The Italian government evicted over 500 people from the country's second-largest refugee center on Tuesday and Wednesday, taking people away in buses to undisclosed locations. The mayor of Castelnuovo di Porto, a small suburb north of Rome, said the migrants were removed from his town with little warning or further information.

25 Dec 2018; DW: Pope Francis has reminded Christians that their messiah was born in poverty and said they should focus on love and charity instead of "consumerism." The event in St. Peter's Basilica was attended by 10,000 people.

Pope Francis used the Christmas Eve Mass to condemn the pursuit of riches on Monday, and urged Christians to consider Jesus' humble birth story. According to the New Testament, Christ was born in a Bethlehem stable and was then placed in a manger.

23 Dec 2018; DW: The Vatican has given Rome's homeless people the Christmas gift of a health clinic near St Peter's Square. The Mother of Mercy health office reflects Pope Francis' determination to help society's weakest people.

The Holy See on Saturday opened a health clinic caring for homeless and needy people living amid the opulence of the city state. The new facility, located beneath the landmark St Peter's Square, will offer free medical assistance three days a week — Monday, Thursday and Saturday.

ROME (AP) — After a raucous session, the Italian Senate has approved a national budget law that was tweaked in a bid to satisfy European Union concerns.

Much of the Italian government’s planned spending in 2019, which won passage in Parliament’s upper chamber about 3 a.m. Sunday, satisfies the expensive campaign promises by Italy’s populist coalition. Those including rolling back pension changes and guaranteeing income for the jobless or underemployed.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has been quoted in a soon-to-be published book as saying that having gays in the clergy “is something that worries me” and remarking that some societies are considering homosexuality a “fashionable” lifestyle.

Italian daily Corriere della Sera’s website Saturday ran excerpts of the book in the form of an interview that Francis gave about religious vocations. Francis was quoted as describing homosexuality within the walls of seminaries, convents and other religious places where clergy live as “a very serious question.”

ROME (AP) — Anti-Mafia authorities in Sicily on the trail of the No. 1 fugitive Mafia boss have confiscated 1.5 billion euros ($1.67 billion) in property.

The seizure of tourist resorts, a 21-meter (70-foot) yacht, companies and other property Saturday was called one of the biggest hauls in Italy’s strategy to weaken criminal syndicates by going after ill-gained wealth.

The property belonged to heirs of a tour company owner who authorities allege had links to Mafia boss.

ROME, November 23. /TASS/. The drastic reduction of Christian presence in the Middle East comes as a result of foreign values being imposed on the residents of the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Friday during the Mediterranean Dialogues conference in Rome.

MILAN (AP) — Chinese consumers will remain the driving force for the luxury goods market, according to a new study by Bain consultancy released Thursday that shows they will fuel nearly half of global high-end sales by 2025.

Chinese shoppers will account for 46 percent of global luxury sales of an estimated 365 billion euros ($412 billion) in just six years, Bain said in the study, which was prepared for Italy’s Altagamma association of high-end producers. That’s up from one third of all sales of luxury apparel, accessories and cosmetics last year.

ROME, October 22. /TASS/. Italy calls for Russia’s return to the Group of Seven (G7) as Moscow is an important participant in the process of solving global crises, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told a news conference at the Foreign Press Association in Rome on Monday.

"If President [Vladimir] Putin returns to the G7 negotiating table, we will be able to solve international problems, which haven’t been settled so far," Conte told reporters, noting that he has been sticking to this stance since assuming office.