Illegal north African immigrants protest over stagnated evacuation out of the southernmost Italian island of Lampedusa, March 31, 2011. Tensions between Italy and France were rising over the immigration emergency as more refugees coming from the southern island of Lampedusa tried to escape across the frontier and were pushed back by the French police. Tensions between Italy and France were rising over... 

Unsure: Libyan rebels retreat from the outskirts of the city of Ajdabiya, south of Benghazi. Nato members are also fighting over who will take command of allied forces. * Tensions with Britain as Gates rebukes UK government over suggestion Gaddafi could be assassinated * French propose a new political ‘committee’ to oversee operations * Germany pulls equipment out of NATO coalition over... 

Devastation: The earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan on Friday was a once-in-a-millennium event, scientists say. The earthquake that struck Japan on Friday was so powerful that it actually moved the whole planet by 25cm, experts say. According to Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology the 9.0 magnitude ‘quake was so powerful it shifted the axis around which the... 

A woman passes by a Jewish memorial , desecrated with Nazi symbols, at a cemetery in Dortmund, Germany, Jan. 10, 2005. Members of the Coordinating Committee of European Muslim and Jewish Leaders from Belgium, U.K., France, Germany, Italy, U.S. and more announce plans for a series of public events on Europe Day. Prominent Muslim and Jewish leaders expressed Monday deep concern regarding the rise of... 

The wave of immigration follows the January revolution in Tunisia. Nearly 350 Tunisians have arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa, after a week in which poor weather had interrupted the flow of people fleeing the country. “Overnight, we escorted a boat with 347 people on board, including four women,” said the island’s coast guard. The last landing from Tunisia was on February 23, when around... 

Tunisian immigrants are guarded by policemen upon arrival on the Italian island of Lampedusa. Italy faced criticism in the European Union on Thursday (24 February) for raising the alarm about a potential wave of refugees from Libya, with several governments saying Rome’s calls for help in dealing with migrants were exaggerated. EU justice ministers were meeting in Brussels yesterday to weigh... 

A Tunisian woman crosses into Tunisia at the Ras Jdir border crossing, after fleeing unrest in Libya. Up to 1.5 million refugees from North Africa could try to flee across the Mediterranean, Italy warned on Thursday as the government begged for help from the EU in dealing with the potential exodus. Roberto Maroni, Italy’s interior minister, said the worst case scenario could see 1.5 million migrants... 

Tunisian immigrants are guarded by policemen upon arrival on the Italian island of Lampedusa. A state of emergency has been declared by the Italian government after 5,000 illegal immigrants fleeing riot-torn Tunisia arrived in just five days. Coastguard officials said that in just one 12-hour period 977 had arrived, with many more boats seen on radar screens approaching from north Africa. The vessels... 

The Campi Flegrei caldera is a supervolcano. While a new eruption here would be more likely to result in the creation of another Vesuvius-like cone, the worst-case scenario could see it obliterating much of life in Europe. Two thousand years ago Mount Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii. Today, a larger, far more deadly supervolcano lurks on the other side of Naples. If it erupts, Campi Flegrei could wipe out... 

From 1 January shops will have to stop supplying shoppers with plastic bags A ban on plastic bags is coming into effect in Italy, which has one of the highest rates of consumption of the bags in Europe. The ban begins in shops across Italy on 1 January, with only biodegradable, cloth or paper bags to be offered. Italians use 20 billion plastic bags a year – more than 300 per person. Supporters... 

The lobby of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, Virginia. Osama Mustafa Hassan, a radical Islamist opposition figure better known as Abu Omar, was snatched from a street in Milan in 2003 in an operation coordinated by the CIA and the Italian military intelligence agency SISMI. An Italian court upped the sentences for 23 CIA agents convicted in absentia of abducting an Egyptian imam in... 

Demonstrators fight with police officers during anti-government clashes in Rome today. Protesters set fire to cars, threw paint and smoke bombs at the Italian parliament and clashed with riot police today in Rome’s worst violence for years after prime minister Silvio Berlusconi survived a confidence vote. Via del Corso, the main street stretching through the historic centre, near Mr Berlusconi’s... 

Shutdown: Bologna airport was shut on Tuesday after a cargo plane was held on the runway and searched for a parcel, believed to be a mail bomb, addressed to Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi Greek authorities have halted international postal deliveries for 48 hours in the wake of a militant bombing campaign. At least 11 mail bombs were sent to embassies in Athens yesterday, while devices were also... 

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport is among the most rare production cars in the world, with perhaps only 40 manufactured. Dan Neil, automotive critic of the Wall Street Journal, is the first journalist to test drive the powerful machine that recently set the speed record for a production car at 268 mph. Neil, who won the Pulitzer Price for criticism in 2004, concludes his review with the paragraph:... 

As an EU member it’s obligated to take in asylum-seekers. But as the flow of desperate Somalis and others hoping to reach Italy and farther has increased, it is making it harder than ever, drawing criticism from rights groups. Reporting from Valletta, Malta — When the 24-year-old Somali chemistry teacher saw the airplane overhead, he prayed that his nightmare journey was finally over.?? Already,...