Oldest Neanderthal DNA Sample Discovered In Italy

The oldest samples of Neanderthal DNA have been removed from remains embedded in a cave in southern Italy, confirming that the so-called Altamura Man was a Neanderthal who lived around 150,000 years ago, according to discovery.com.

The Altamura Man was discovered by a group of speleologists in 1993 in the karstic cave of Lamalunga, near the town of Altamura in Puglia.  It consists of a virtually complete, fossilized hominin skeleton in an excellent state of preservation.  The area is rich in prehistorical findings, states discovery.com.

The remains “represent one of the most extraordinary hominin specimens ever found in Europe,” wrote Giorgio Manzi, professor of paleoanthropology and human ecology at Rome’s Sapienza University, and David Caramelli, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Florence, and their colleagues in the Journal of Human Evolution.

Typical? American Tourists Busted For Defacing Roman Colosseum

According to the U.K. Daily Mail, two American tourists have been arrested for carving initials into the Colosseum in Rome.  The Guardian does not say whether they were arrested.

The women, 21 and 25, carved a J and an N into a brick wall on the first floor of the west side of the Colosseum.  After carving the eight-inch high letters, the women posed together for a selfie.

The women – just two of the six million tourists that flock to the Colosseum every year – used a coin to engrave the letters, La Stampa reported.  Other tourists saw what had happened and alerted security.

Police charged the women with “aggravated damage on building of historical and artistic interest,” according to Republica.

After they were caught, the women apologized to Piazza Dante police and the police captain.

They said: ‘We apologize for what we did. We regret it but we did not imagine it was something so serious.

‘We’ll remember for a lifetime.’

The Guardian states that the section they carved on dates back to the 1800s – a key period of restoration.  A spokesman for the Special Superintendency for the Archaeological Heritage of Rome is quoted as saying: “It’s not an original wall but it’s nevertheless antique,” according to The Daily Mail.

With 6 million visitors annually and ever-increasing staff cuts, policing the site has become a major problem.

The Americans’ actions come a little over three months after a Russian tourist was caught carving a 25cm letter into the Colosseum. Busted, the 42-year-old was given a four-month suspended prison sentence and a €20,000 fine, although he has not paid the penalty due to lack of funds.

The Russian was reportedly the fifth tourist seen defacing the Colosseum in 2014. The others were from Australia, Brazil, and Canada, according to The Guardian.

The Colosseum was built in the first century AD and is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2985434/California-tourists-arrested-carving-initials-Colosseum-Rome.html#ixzz3TuHeJD8C

Councilors In Italy Pose As Prostitutes, Mayor ‘Busts’ Solicitors

The Lip TV

Italian councilors are posing roadside as prostitutes in an effort to entrap unsuspecting men in Castel Volturno, Italy. The stunt was orchestrated by Mayor Dimitri Russo who felt that the city’s prostitution laws weren’t being taken seriously enough and was tired of the damaging effect prostitution was having on his town. The mayor would approach the cars to talk to the unsuspecting “Johns.”

Video by The Lip TV with Elliot Hill and Mark Sovel.

Euronews: Mafia Ring Busted

euronews

According to euronews, police in Rome recently have broken up a mafia drug ring arresting 26 people and seizing more than 600kg of cocaine and hashish. Those arrested were members of the infamous Ndrangheta mob group.

Anti-mafia magistrate Michele Prestipino says the Rome marketplace is strategic and helps mafia clans to accumulate criminal, political, and economic power.

Giorgio Napolitano – The Only President Ever Re-Elected In The Italian Republic – Will Resign

euronews

Giorgio Napolitano was the only re-elected President in the history of the Italian Republic, sworn in a second time on 22nd April, 2013 (the first had been in 2006). After five rounds of voting, the Parliament had still not mustered a consensus on a candidate. Napolitano agreed to stand as a compromise, feeling a duty to his nation, he said.

President Giorgio Napolitano, who was Italy’s king-maker and its longest serving head of state, is set to resign on Wednesday in a development that will spell yet more political uncertainty for a fragile coalition government struggling to put the country’s moribund economy back on course.

The significance of Mr Napolitano’s departure can be measured by the fact that he has appointed the past three premiers and that the 89-year-old head of state was widely credited with behind-the-scenes manoeuvres that finally removed Silvio Berlusconi from power, at the height of the sovereign debt crisis in 2011.

Ebola Patient In Italy Gets Experimental Treatment

According to the AP, an Italian doctor who contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone arrived in Italy and is being treated with the same experimental drugs used in the U.S. and other European countries.

Rome doctors declined to identify the antiviral drug used for treatment, though they said the drug has been used before in the U.S. and Europe.

The doctor, whose name wasn’t released, is in his 50s and has Italy’s first confirmed case of Ebola.  He arrived at a Rome military air base early Tuesday and was transported in a hazard-safe equipped ambulance to Lazzaro Spallanzani hospital, a Rome hospital that specializes in infectious diseases.

His condition is ’’stable,’’ doctor Emanuele Nicastri said at a press conference at the hospital. ’’He’s conscious and collaborating’’ with the medical team.

More than 15,000 people have been infected with Ebola and 5,420 have died, according to the World Health Organization.

Kyle Kulinski On The Rise Of Neo-Fascism In Europe

Kyle Kulinski discusses an article by Alter Net that discusses the rise of Neo-Fascism in Europe.
A Secular Talk video.

Video from 2013.
http://www.alternet.org/economy/tea-party-and-europe