Latest Italy Headlines

All the headlines from our Italy Topic Page, ordered by recency.

G20 Backs Europe’s Plans for Euro Zone Overhaul to Fight Crisis

Jun 20 2012 // Europe won support from world leaders on Tuesday for an ambitious, but slow-moving, overhaul of the euro zone, even as pressure built in financial markets for quicker solutions to its debt crisis that threatens the world...

Analysis: EU’s Spain Bank Rescue May Bring only Brief Respite

Jun 11 2012 // Euro zone finance ministers rushed Spain into an EU-funded rescue for its debt-stricken banks to pre-empt the threat of a bank run if Greece’s debt crisis flares again but any respite for Madrid and the euro may be...

Aon Benfield May Cat Report Highlights Italian Quakes; $6 Billion Econ. Loss

Jun 8 2012 // Aon Benfield, the global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor of Aon plc, has released its latest edition of its Global Catastrophe Recap report, which reviews the natural disaster perils that occurred worldwide...

Italy to Hike Petrol Tax to Fund Quake Relief

May 30 2012 // The Italian government will raise excise duties on petrol to fund aid for the Emilia-Romagna region affected by Monday’s earthquake, a statement said.The Cabinet also decided that nationwide spending curbs affecting...

Another Earthquake Strikes Northern Italy

May 29 2012 // On Tuesday, May 29 a Mw5.8 (moment magnitude) earthquake struck the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, a little more than a week after a Mw6.0 earthquake struck the region on Sunday, May 20.According to the U.S....

Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake Strikes Italy’s Emilia Romagna Region: AIR Analysis

May 21 2012 // AIR Worldwide has released its preliminary analysis of the earthquake which struck the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy in the early hours on Sunday, May 20. The US Geological Survey issued a “moment magnitude...

Fondiaria Battle Heats up as Funds Table Offer; AXA Interested

Feb 23 2012 // The battle for control of Italian insurer Fondiaria-SAI heated up on Wednesday when two private equity funds tabled a rival offer to one brokered by top investment bank Mediobanca to rescue the troubled insurer by merging...

Cruise Ship Industry Leaves Crash Victims Little Hope for Recovery

Feb 21 2012 // When Walter Henry Alderfer learned last month about the Costa Concordia shipwreck off Italy, it brought back bad memories.In April 2007, he, his wife and his daughter were aboard the Sea Diamond cruise ship when it struck...

Moody’s Warns May Downgrade Global Banks, Cuts Ratings on Insurers

Feb 16 2012 // Moody’s warned on Thursday it may cut the credit ratings of 17 global and 114 European financial institutions in another sign the impact of the euro zone government debt crisis is spreading throughout the global...

More Shipwreck Survivors File Lawsuits against Carnival, Costa Cruises

Feb 14 2012 // Dozens of additional survivors of the Costa Concordia shipwreck off Italy have joined a Florida lawsuit that accuses the ship’s owners of gross negligence and fraud, and asks for at least $528 million in damages.An...

Italian Court Sentences Businessmen to Jail in Asbestos Case

Feb 13 2012 // A billionaire Swiss industrialist and a Belgian executive were sentenced to 16 years in jail on Monday by an Italian court and ordered to pay millions of euros in damages for negligence that led to more than 2,000...

Lawyer Says Cruise Lawsuits Will Force Insurers to Demand Higher Standards

Feb 9 2012 // Insurers stung by multi-million dollar claims over the Concordia shipwreck will demand higher safety standards from the cruise industry, a lawyer who will file suits this month against Carnival Corp for more than 70...

Lawyers Jump Into Cruise Ship Disaster Cases

Jan 30 2012 // Soon after Mitchell Proner, a New York personal-injury lawyer, heard about the capsizing of the Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy, he sprang into action.Proner, who specializes in motorcycle-accident lawsuits, has...

Costa Cruises Offers Settlements to Passengers

Jan 27 2012 // Costa Cruises has offered to pay 11,000 euros ($14,500) in compensation to each of the more than 3,000 passengers aboard the ship that capsized near the island of Giglio two weeks ago, Italian consumer groups said on...

Ship Disaster Unlikely to Prompt Quick Safety Changes

Jan 19 2012 // The cruise ship disaster off Italy’s coast is drawing fresh scrutiny to the gaps in international safety rules and standards – yet there may be little appetite among the world’s major shipping nations and...

New Yorkers Recovering From Italy Ship Ordeal

Jan 18 2012 // Four New Yorkers are safe following their evacuation from the cruise ship that ran aground in Italy.Joan, Brian and Alana Aho of Duanesburg, N.Y., made it off the ship during last Friday’s emergency. But they told a...

Report Says Mafia Now ‘Italy’s No.1 Bank’ as Economic Crisis Bites

Jan 11 2012 // Organized crime has tightened its grip on the Italian economy during the economic crisis, making the Mafia the country’s biggest “bank” and squeezing the life out of thousands of small firms, according to...

AXA, Japan Post Top Best’s List of World’s Largest Insurers

Jan 4 2012 // France’s AXA S.A. has again topped the list of the world’s 25 largest insurance companies, based on premiums written, compiled by A.M. Best. The lists, which were compiled both on asset value and on net...

Ratings Roundup: Heritage, Euler Hermes (US)

Dec 22 2011 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit rating of “a” of Calif.-based Heritage Indemnity Company, both with stable outlooks. The ratings of...

Best’s Rating Actions Spurred by EU Failure to Produce Debt Crisis Solution

Dec 21 2011 // Although the recent summit of the 27 countries of the European Union did manage to come up with a plan to control budget deficits – in the future – it “took no clear short term actions to address the debt...