A boat carrying Tunisian migrants enters the port of Lampedusa, Italy. About 50 illegal migrants, including women and children, have been feared dead after their boat sank off the coast of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa. Italian rescue services said on Friday that search operation continued by the coastguard who had called on private vessels and teams to join them, AFP reported. Earlier in... 

The former archbishop of Milan and papal candidate warned in his last interview that the Roman Catholic Church was left “200 years behind.” Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, who was once regarded as a possible successor to Pope John Paul II, died on Friday at the age of 85 because of Parkinson’s disease. “The Church has been left 200 years behind. Why doesn’t it rouse itself? Are we... 

The United States might officially be the worst neighbor on Earth: the US now owes its allies $5.2923 trillion, the most money the country has ever been indebted to its foreign friends in the history of the nation. Statistics released this week by the US Treasury indicate that, as of June 2012, the United States has borrowed bucks from most of the world’s major countries and has accumulated a debt... 

Hundreds of passengers are stranded as Italy’s cash-strapped budget airline Wind Jet halts all its flights. Wind Jet officially stopped operating flights Sunday due to the failure of Italian national carrier Alitalia’s deal to purchase the Sicily based low cost carrier, the Associated Press reported. Wind Jet reportedly failed to turn over company financial data under an April agreement. The... 

“German” Minister of Economy Philipp Roesler has expressed disillusionment with debt-ridden Greece’s endeavors to implement reforms to save its economy. “I’ve lost my illusions,” Roesler told the weekly magazine Focus in an interview to be printed on Monday. “I proposed with German businesses a whole series of support measures for the Greek government,” he said. “The... 

Members of the German Special Police Force. German experts have warned that Germany is now a ‘promised land’ for Italian organized crime as four largest Mafia syndicates are operating in the country under perfect conditions. The opposition Social Democrat (SPD) party in the southeast state of Bavaria cautioned against the phenomenon on Friday and called for tougher coordinated police action... 

People look for job offers outside a local employment office in Ahens on May 22, 2012. The number of people unemployed across the 17 countries that share the euro currency has hit a record high in June, official figures show. New data released by the Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office on Tuesday shows that 17.801 million people were out of work in the eurozone in June. The new figure is 123,000... 

Germany’s Bundestag passed its new registration law in just 57 seconds – as deputies rushed off to watch the national side play football against Italy. But it could undermine Germans’ right to privacy for years to come. ­Now, every single time a German moves to a new home, and gives the local authorities his address (as he is legally obliged to) as long as he does not explicitly forbid them... 

Spain have thrashed Italy 4-0 in the Euro 2012 final in Kiev to retain their title, becoming the first European team in history to win three major international tournaments in a row. It took Vicente del Bosque’s charges just 14 minutes to put their noses in front. David Silva scored with an accurate header, guiding a crisp Cesc Fabregas cross from the byline into the net after Italian goalkeeper... 

The famous self-portrait of Da Vinci. Researchers say a self-portrait by the legendary Italian painter and architect, Leonardo da Vinci, kept in a vault in the city of Turin, is in poor condition and probably beyond repair. The invaluable drawing which depicts the Italian Renaissance artist in his 60s was exposed to sunlight after being framed for an exhibition in 1929. The exposure has caused the... 

European Union apparatchiks are preparing to lockdown Europe following Greece’s exit. From the Associated Press today: Olivier Bailly said Tuesday that, legally, limits could be imposed on movement of people and money across national borders within the EU if it’s necessary to protect public order or public security — but not on economic grounds. “Some people are working on scenarios,” he... 

Syria's Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi The Syrian Foreign Ministry has said in a statement that Damascus expelled the ambassadors of the US, Britain, France, Turkey and some other states. Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi announced the list of expelled diplomats on Tuesday. The expulsions came after Western states expelled Syrian diplomats from their countries last week. The ministry... 

Rescuers searching for survivors in Medolla earthquake on May 29, 2012 Italy’s second fatal earthquake in just over a week has killed at least 16 people and injured 350 others in the northern region of Emilia Romagna. At least 14,000 people have also been displaced since a strong earthquake measuring 5.8 struck northern Italy on Tuesday morning, local security officials reported. The rescuing teams... 

Moody’s Investors Service The European banking industry has suffered another crushing blow after Moody’s ratings agency downgraded the credit ratings of 16 Spanish banks, citing the weakened government’s ability to support some banks. The agency downgraded the long-term debt and deposit ratings by one to three notches for 16 Spanish banks and Santander UK PLC, a UK-domiciled subsidiary of Banco... 

Where the eurozone crisis heads will depend not on whether Greece leaves the union, but on how the situation in the region affects debt-troubled Italy and Spain, Aleksey Bachurin, head of Russian Cash Equity Trading at Renaissance Capital, told RT. ­“The important thing is not Greece itself: it’s relatively small and the investments in Greece are already written down by most banks. But the potential...