Government aid to victims of the 6 April earthquake that hit L’Aquila, Italy, has been held up by a small problem. The city and surrounding area have 70,000 registered residents, but 100,000 people have applied for a grant.
The local authority’s chief executive, Massimiliano Cordeschi, has noted an “incongruity” in the total numbers of residents [...]

Human rights activist Dania Avallone was seriously injured in Rome last October while participating in a peaceful protest at an Eritrean festival when rocks and bottles were thrown at her. Now, some Eritreans living in Italy have charged Ms Avallone with “disruption”. She is to appear in court next week.
Maria Daniela (Dania) Avallone [...]

It is now estimated that one million Nigerian children are sold into internal and external slavery every year. One of Nigeria’s leading experts on human trafficking, Professor Sola Ehindero, says that the trade in human beings, particularly children, is so pervasive and growing so fast that it threatens to “derail the national economy”.
“People have [...]

Earlier this year an Italian judge invoked a 1948 law against “clandestine newspapers” in ordering a writer to close his blog.  Now an Italian politician has expressed his fear that “almost the entire Italian internet” is illegal.
The story begins back in May, when a judge in Modica (in Sicily) found local historian and author Carlo [...]