Showing posts with label #italy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #italy. Show all posts

Sunday, September 4, 2016

West Bengal handloom products to be showcased at a month-long exhibition at Rome


Taking advantage of the presence of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Italy on a four-day visit to Italy for attending the canonization of Mother Teresa, an exhibition of handloom products of the state will be showcased at a month-long exhibition at Rome.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 4 September 2016.
The exhibition is being organized by an NGO on behalf of the West Bengal Khadi & Village Industries Board (WBKVIB). It will kick off with a three-day event in an open space after which it will be shifted to a gallery in Rome.
Various types of handloom sarees will find space at the exhibition apart from artifacts of Dokra, Sitalpati, Madurkathi, Terracotta, Patachitra, wooden and Chau masks. Italy is a fashion destination and the organisers are hopeful that handloom products from Bengal, which are already in great demand in Western countries. will now win over the heart of Italians.
The effort to exhibit products from the state at a foreign country is aimed at providing a platform for promotion. The handloom products of Bengal have a rich tradition and, as an economic trade and industrial activity, it occupies a place second only to agriculture in providing livelihood to the people.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Thursday, August 25, 2016

6.2 magnitude quake leaves nearly 250 dead - Amatrice turns into a ghost town


It was a 6.2 magnitude quake that struck the town of Amatrice in Italy early morning and left nearly 250 dead with the town resembling a ghost town. The town is a notable summer getaway in central Italy and is famous as the birthplace of a pasta dish made with tomatoes and pork cheeks.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 25 August 2016.
The main quake was followed by a number of strong aftershocks — including one nearly as strong an hour later — that flattened houses and buried residents in the rubble. As Mayor Sergio Pirozzi of Amatrice has revealed to the media - half the town no longer exists. In fact, Amatrice, a quiet mountain town about 100 miles northeast of Rome looked more like a ghost town. It has a permanent population of about 2,000 and is a place where people had ties to Rome in one way or another because of employment or business interests like running restaurants, bars and hotels - food has always been part of the town's culture.
Observers feel that the initial quake was comparable in intensity to the one in 2009 in the central Abruzzo region that took more than 300 lives. The quake and aftershocks were felt as far away as Bologna, Rome and Naples and camps were set up to house hundreds of homeless. The authorities were also trying to take stock of an unknown number of tourists.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


Some more interesting links -

Cannes bans burkinis on its beaches due to terror threats

Street vendors in Bengaluru want to remain open and do business till 1am

Karnataka bans selfies in specific tourist spots like waterfalls, dams, cliffs etc


Didi’s naughty boys tie her up in knots (satire)

Lord Shiva loves and enjoys dancing (satire)

Moody discusses women’s fashion with Baba Someday (satire)


War waged on ISIS by the US and UK has destroyed 26000 targets

France to impart lessons in schools on survival techniques in case of ISIS attacks

Suspected chlorine gas attack in Aleppo kill at least four


Action hero and Rustom star Akshay Kumar talks about daredevil stunts

'Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah' crosses 2000 episodes - enters Limca Book of Records

Next James Bond movie would not come before 2018

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Millions of olive trees in Italy felled after attack by deadly bacteria


Over one million ancient olive trees are being wiped out by a deadly disease in southern Italy and it is resulting in a 20 per cent rise in the cost of olive oil across the EU. The groves – which counts trees over 1000 years old among their number - were first infected in 2013 by xylella fastidiosa. This is a deadly bacterial pathogen that has no known cure.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 16 February 2016.
In order to counter the outbreak, the Italian government had, last year, granted approval for the felling of 3,000 trees in Salento, a southern region in the country's heel to create a sanitary buffer zone between affected and non-affected areas.
However, for the desperate tree growers, it was a double disaster because experts also did not now the real cause of xylella or whether it was indeed the sole cause of the dying trees - the tree growers won a legal battle to halt the cull. Some of the trees are over one thousand years old and have resisted fires and wars but have now fallen prey to xylella - this does not harm humans but can kill over 200 types of plant, including fruit trees and grape vines. It is, in short, an environmental disaster.
However, the Italian authorities have revised their decision and hundreds of trees are back on the chopping board. Xylella is an insect-born disease and is continuing to spread.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Sunday, April 19, 2015

Over 700 migrants killed as their boat overturns off Libya – EU worried about the influx of migrants


#migrantboat #Libya #Italy #EU #DonaldTusk #MareNostrum #triton In one of the worst tragedies in the Mediterranean, over 700 migrants who were traveling from war torn Libya to Europe, were killed when their 20-meter fishing boat overturned off the coast of Libya. As per reports of Italy's coastguard, only 28 people survived. One of the survivors, a Bangladeshi, who was shifted to a Sicily hospital by helicopter has put the number of casualties at 950 which included about 200 women and 50 children.
If the death toll of over 700 is confirmed, it would take the death toll since the start of 2015 to more than 1,600. This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 20 April 2015.
Against this background, EU ministers are entering into crisis talks under pressure to confront the people-smuggling gangs. EU president Donald Tusk is considering holding a special summit on the crisis in Luxemburg because member states Spain, Greece, Germany and France have urged for immediate action. The Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is spearheading the calls for a summit by the end of the week.
Rights groups including Amnesty International want the restoration of an Italian navy search-and-rescue operation known as Mare Nostrum that had been suspended at the end of last year. This has been replaced by a much smaller EU-run operation called Triton because of financial constraints.
It is understandable because the influx of migrants into European countries is putting a tremendous pressure on the resources of the countries involved.

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Monday, February 16, 2015

Ignoring threats from Kalashnikov wielding gunmen, Italian coastguard rescues 2000 migrants


#mediterranean #migrants #libyancoast #italy #UNHCR It was a major rescue operation undertaken by the Italian coastguard when it managed to rescue over 2,000 Mediterranean migrants off the Libyan coast as reported in bbc.com dated 15 February 2015. At the time of rescue, the search teams were threatened by Kalashnikov-wielding men. They had approached in a speedboat from Libya.
This rescue effort involved a plane, four coastguard ships, two tugboats and a navy vessel and, as informed by local media, the migrants were crammed into 12 boats – they have, since, been shifted to Italy.
It may be recalled that only last week, at least 300 migrants met a watery grave in the Mediterranean Sea. They were travelling in dinghies and ran into trouble when they faced stormy weather after leaving the coast of Libya. In between, another 600 migrants were rescued about 50 miles off the coast of the North African country.
Statistics of UNHCR reveal that almost 3,500 people died while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea and land in Europe in 2014. Such a large number of casualties makes this sea crossing the most dangerous one for migrants who are attempting to enter the European Union. Of course, during the same period, more than 200,000 people have been rescued also.