https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from Italy in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed Public sector workers in southern Italy have been caught wearing cardboard boxes over their heads in a bid to avoid identification as they cheat on their time clocks, Italian media reported on Tuesday. https://www.thelocal.it/20160712/italy-time-clock-cheats-wear-cardboard-boxes-over-heads Tue, 12 Jul 2016 16:51:00 +0200 italy-time-clock-cheats-wear-cardboard-boxes-over-heads Prime Minister Matteo Renzi declared on Wednesday that the “good times are over” for time clock cheats after the cabinet passed a law that will make it easier to sack work-shy public sector staff. https://www.thelocal.it/20160616/italy-finally-calls-time-on-work-shy-public-workers Thu, 16 Jun 2016 09:55:04 +0200 italy-finally-calls-time-on-work-shy-public-workers Two Muslim men, fined €4,600 for slaughtering a conscious goat in the street, have had an animal cruelty conviction overturned by a court in Italy on faith grounds. https://www.thelocal.it/20160509/italian-court-absolves-two-muslims-fined-over-public-goat-slaughter Mon, 09 May 2016 14:05:09 +0200 italian-court-absolves-two-muslims-fined-over-public-goat-slaughter A 40-year-old man was slapped with a hefty fine on Monday when he stopped to urinate at the side of a main road in northern Italy. https://www.thelocal.it/20160330/man-fined-3333-for-weeing-beside-italian-road Wed, 30 Mar 2016 14:43:17 +0200 man-fined-3333-for-weeing-beside-italian-road Hopeful applicants from all over Italy have sent their CVs to the town council of San Remo in Liguria after dozens of staff were sacked amid an absenteeism scandal. https://www.thelocal.it/20160304/italy-coastal-town-bombarded-with-cvs-after-firing-shirking-workers Fri, 04 Mar 2016 17:24:06 +0100 italy-coastal-town-bombarded-with-cvs-after-firing-shirking-workers Italy's capital is considering introducing fines of up to €200 for passengers caught on trains and buses without a valid ticket. https://www.thelocal.it/20160222/rome-mulls-200-fine-for-public-transport-ticket-dodgers Mon, 22 Feb 2016 13:22:58 +0100 rome-mulls-200-fine-for-public-transport-ticket-dodgers Enrico Quaglia, from Turin, was filmed handing over a €2,000 bribe to an inspector from the Ministry of Economy in a paper bag containing a sandwich. https://www.thelocal.it/20160203/italian-doctor-forget-invalidity-claims-with-sandwich-bribes Wed, 03 Feb 2016 17:30:30 +0100 italian-doctor-forget-invalidity-claims-with-sandwich-bribes The sky-high figure, confirmed by Italy's financial police, is a record for a ten month period and shows that in spite of public promises to crack down on corruption, the problem remains rife. https://www.thelocal.it/20160201/italy-lost-four-billion-euros-to-corruption-in-just-10-months-last-year Mon, 01 Feb 2016 11:58:17 +0100 italy-lost-four-billion-euros-to-corruption-in-just-10-months-last-year The Chief Financial Officer of Turin's transport authority, GTT, was fired on Thursday, after it emerged she allegedly spend thousands of euros of the company's cash on luxury goods. https://www.thelocal.it/20160122/italy-public-worker-fired-for-buying-fur-coat-with-company-card Fri, 22 Jan 2016 13:10:46 +0100 italy-public-worker-fired-for-buying-fur-coat-with-company-card Italy is preparing to tighten the law against time clock cheats after a series of stings which found people clocking-in for friends and a traffic cop punching-in in his underpants. https://www.thelocal.it/20160119/time-up-for-public-sector-shirkers-as-italy-declares-crackdown Tue, 19 Jan 2016 09:18:03 +0100 time-up-for-public-sector-shirkers-as-italy-declares-crackdown A boy wearing a hooded top and playing with a toy gun in a public garden in Verona sent jitters among those living in the area. https://www.thelocal.it/20160113/boy-playing-with-toy-gun-sparks-panic-in-verona-park Wed, 13 Jan 2016 11:40:20 +0100 boy-playing-with-toy-gun-sparks-panic-in-verona-park A €12 million fund will be available immediately for city councils to spend on public transport and car-sharing in an effort to combat severely high smog levels, Environment Minister Gian Luca Galletti said. https://www.thelocal.it/20151230/italian-cities-to-get-12-million-to-fight-smog Wed, 30 Dec 2015 17:35:41 +0100 italian-cities-to-get-12-million-to-fight-smog Italy's cash-strapped southern region of Basilicata is set to launch a public works scheme funded by oil profits to try and get people back to work. https://www.thelocal.it/20151217/basilicata-to-pay-poorest-families-with-oil-money Thu, 17 Dec 2015 14:13:43 +0100 basilicata-to-pay-poorest-families-with-oil-money The northern Italian cities of Milan and Turin are letting people use public transport free of charge in an effort to combat dangerously high levels of airborne pollution. https://www.thelocal.it/20151209/italy-cities-make-public-transport-free-to-fight-smog Wed, 09 Dec 2015 13:51:34 +0100 italy-cities-make-public-transport-free-to-fight-smog Milan has decided to extend its bikesharing scheme – known as BikeMi – to children, giving youngsters the chance to pedal around the city with mum and dad. https://www.thelocal.it/20150921/milan-launches-italys-first-citybikes-for-kids Mon, 21 Sep 2015 12:22:11 +0200 milan-launches-italys-first-citybikes-for-kids Italy is a country of half-finished projects. In fact, there are 671 incomplete public works projects across the country, according to data compiled by Linkiesta. https://www.thelocal.it/20150806/five-ghost-buildings-that-cost-italy-dearly Thu, 06 Aug 2015 18:08:55 +0200 five-ghost-buildings-that-cost-italy-dearly The amount of public debt racked up by the eurozone’s third largest economy reached a new record of €2.2 trillion in May, up by €23.4 billion in a month, the Bank of Italy said on Tuesday https://www.thelocal.it/20150714/italys-public-debt-reaches-new-record Tue, 14 Jul 2015 18:30:10 +0200 italys-public-debt-reaches-new-record Pictures of one of Italy's most prominent female politicians eating an ice cream have whipped up a sexism storm after a magazine used them as an excuse to imply she must be proficient at oral sex. https://www.thelocal.it/20141107/gelato-gate-whips-up-sexism-storm-in-italy Fri, 07 Nov 2014 11:08:00 +0100 gelato-gate-whips-up-sexism-storm-in-italy A public sector company in Sicily has become the first in Italy to grant a gay employee marital leave. https://www.thelocal.it/20141006/gay-couple-gets-honeymoon-in-public-sector-first Mon, 06 Oct 2014 14:55:00 +0200 gay-couple-gets-honeymoon-in-public-sector-first Italy's public deficit rose to 3.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) over the first nine months of last year, the official data agency said, raising the risk that it could breach the EU threshold. https://www.thelocal.it/20140110/italys-public-budget-deficit-widens Fri, 10 Jan 2014 09:49:00 +0100 italys-public-budget-deficit-widens