Italian firm in salary dispute

The "British jobs for British workers" slogan and ethic of last year once again rears it's ugly head.

source: The Guardian:
British workers at a power plant project have been undercut by a subcontractor paying Italian labourers over £1,000 less on average per week than the agreed rate. A pay audit revealed that Italian firm CMN, one of the subcontractors employed by engineering firm Alstom to build a power station at Staythorpe in the east Midlands, was defying a national pay deal agreed between Unite the union and the industry. The audit, requested by unions, revealed that between April 2009 and December 2009, an average of 17 labourers a month were being paid an average of €1,300 a month less than the agreed rate.
Unite's assistant general secretary, Les Bayliss said: "The underpayment of these workers is outrageous. We have demanded that the workers are paid back in full. Unite will not allow employers to get away with breaking agreements and underpaying its workers, regardless of nationality."

Mancini goes to Manchester

45 year old Italian Roberto Mancini has been nominated Manchester City's new coach / manager after Mark Hughes was sacked over the weekend.
Ancona born Mancini has already enjoyed a successful career as coach at Inter-Milan as well as with Rome's Lazio and Fiorentina before that, as well as an impressive record as a player with Bologna, Sampdoria and Lazio. City will be his first experience in England, apart from a brief stint with Leicester City in 2001 where he played 4 matches before retiring as a player. The Times reports he is planning to bring two or three Italian players to the Manchester club as well as some of his ex fitness staff colleagues.
He will immediately be put to the test with City as they confront three games in quick succession over the Christmas period, something which does not happen in Italy where Christmas is considered a rest period.

Italian student arrested for filming in London

An article in The Guardian, also featured on Italian national TV news programme TG2, has told of her ordeal after being stopped by two police officers for filming buildings in the Paddington area of London.
Simona Bonomo, 32, an art student at London Metropolitan University continued filming when she was approached by officers who asked her what she was doing and demanded ID. After being accused of being "cocky" Ms Borromeo was threatened with a fine for cycling the wrong way down a one-way street. The two officers then went away but then returned with about six others. The student was then accused of being aggressive, bundled to the ground and arrested. She was then held in custody for 5 hours and charged with a fine of £80 for "harassment, alarm and distress in a public place."
The Met confirmed that a woman was stopped and searched under section 44 of the Terrorism Act.
Source. The Guardian
in Italian: Corriere della Sera

New Ryanair flights

Ryanair has announced new flight routes between Italy and the UK.
As from 19th December it will be possible to fly between Turin and Bristol, and from Bristol to Venice/Treviso as from 29th March 2010. A flight from Cuneo in Piedmont to London Stansted will also start this month as will the flight from East Midlands in the UK to Turin. Flights from Liverpool to the popular seaside resort of Rimini and to Trapani in Sicily will also open at the end of March next year, as will Pisa / Leeds.
Easyjet on the other hand has cancelled its daily flight between Bristol and Venice International.

Check Ryanair's new routes page for more flights and details

Knox and Sollecito guilty of Kercher murder

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Italy richer than Great Britain claims Mr B.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi claimed in a recent Cabinet meeting that with an increase in the country's GDP (PIL, in Italian) Italy has become the sixth richest nation in the world, effectively overtaking and becoming 'richer than' Great Britain.

Mr Berlusconi has this year been the subject of alleged sex scandals involving a 16 year old girl and an 'escort' who was paid for her services in the official PM's residence Palazzo Grazioli. He also lost a battle for legal immunity last month after a ruling by the Constitutional Court.

Italy denies Taleban bribes

The Italian government has denied allegations by The Times of a deal struck with Italian soldiers in Afghanistan and local insurgent groups. The newspaper reports of a Taleban commander from the Sarobi region explaining how the deal was reached — and how it came apart, leading to the fighting in which ten French soldiers died. Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa gave a short press conference in which he stated that the claims were untrue and that The Times had merely reported "trash" (spazzatura) He added that either the Ministry or the Italian government would duly sue for false allegations.
source: reuters