An immigrant is helped by an Italian soldier as he arrives in the Sicilian harbour of Porto Empedocle Italy does not want to become a “multi-ethnic” country and will continue its newly adopted policy of sending boatloads of immigrants and asylum seekers back to North Africa, the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, said. Previous Left-wing governments had “opened the doors to clandestine... 

A priest has shocked parishioners by welcoming them to church wearing a swastika armband. Fascist Father Angelo Idi, 51 – who once saw off a charity box thief with a truncheon at his church in Vigevano, Italy – confessed: “I am proud of my right wing beliefs. But people shouldn’t care about my politics, they should care about how good a priest I am.” In northern Italy... 

The new mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, a former fascist, has launched a campaign to promote Italian films at the expense of those featuring Hollywood stars such as Nicole Kidman and Leonardo DiCaprio, who are to be blacklisted. American actors who flocked to Rome for its film festival will no longer be invited, on the orders of Alemanno, 50, of the National Alliance party, who last week became the... 

The winner in Italy’s national elections, Silvio Berlusconi, has promised to form a streamlined Cabinet that could get to work quickly to tackle the country’s problems. After his center-right coalition emerged with a large enough majority to govern, the former prime minister said he will select a team of people who know the problems with the machinery of the government. Conservative media...