A judge in Tuscany on Wednesday accepted a plea agreement from Costa Crociere, a unit of Carnival Corp., which required the company to pay a fine of $1.31 million for a deadly cruise ship wreck in January 2012. The plea agreement will settle any criminal charges stemming from the accident that occurred off the coast of the Tuscan island of Giglio that resulted in the deaths of 32 people.

The cruise ship captained by Francesco Schettino, carrying over 4,000 passengers and crew, ran into a reef on January 13, 2012, which caused the ship to take on water and overturn. The Concordia is still in the water awaiting recovery. The settlement does not shield the Concordia from civil suits. Schettino remains accused on manslaughter, and could see a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Schettino is not the only member of the ship’s crew that still faces legal repercussions however, as five other members also face indictment on criminal charges.

John Arthur Eaves, Jr., an American lawyer representing 150 passengers and crew members, blames the disaster mostly on the shoulders of Carnival and Costa, and termed the plea agreement a “tragedy.” Eaves is striving for $5 million in compensation for each of his clients. Similarly, the Italian consumer group Codacons described the monetary settlement as a “slap to the survivors and most of all to the relatives of the victims of the shipwreck.” Passengers who were onboard that day contend that poor training on the part of the ship’s staff resulted in a chaotic evacuation.

As to the salvage of the Concordia, the ship is planned to be corrected in early August of this year and then floated off the reef in the fall.

For more information:

http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-costa-concordia-fine-20130410,0,2757099.story

http://www.examiner.com/article/cruise-ship-fines-set-concordia-wreck-brings-1-3m-fine-from-judge

http://www.today.com/travel/costa-cruises-accepts-1-3-million-fine-over-concordia-disaster-1C9291241

Amanda Knox, a United States citizen attending college in Italy, was tried and convicted for the 2007 murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher.  After serving four years of her 26 year sentence, Knox was acquitted in 2011.  Since her release, Knox has been attending college in Oregon.  Last week Italy’s highest criminal court overturned the acquittal and ordered a retrial.

Italy’s criminal justice system that is based in a civil law tradition seems very foreign to Americans who are accustomed to common law.  Unlike the US justice system, in Italy prosecutors can appeal a case when they receive a poor verdict, which makes it routine for criminal cases to be appealed.  In the United States only five percent of verdicts are overturned on appeal.  Conversely, in Italy this occurs in 95% of appeals.

But what is most startling about Knox’s upcoming post-acquittal retrial is that it clashes with the American constitutional prohibition of double jeopardy.  While American courts do not allow a person to be tried twice on the same allegations, Italian law does not have such a prohibition.  Because of this, many people are wondering whether the United States will even be willing to extradite Knox if the Italian courts make such a demand.

While Knox can be tried in absentia, if the court finds that she is guilty Italy will likely demand her extradition.  The United States has an extradition treaty with Italy, and it regularly delivers people convicted of crimes by Italian courts.  If Italy makes such a demand, a United States judge would be required to ratify Knox’s guilt using a “probable cause” standard before she could be extradited.  And indeed, the aforementioned treaty forbids extradition where the defendant was previously acquitted.  However, many legal experts think that Knox would be extradited in this situation because Italy would likely argue that Knox’s acquittal was not final within the context of the Italian justice system.  It will be interesting to see how the US courts reconcile the constitutional issues of this case with the foreign treaty.

For more information:

 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-26/italy-extradition-of-amanda-knox-seen-as-difficult.html

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/26/world/europe/italy-amanda-knox-case/index.html

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/26/17468473-italy-court-amanda-knox-to-be-retried-for-meredith-kercher-murder?lite

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/03/30/can-amanda-knox-be-forced-back-to-italy/

President Giorgio Napolitano turned to an outside group of advisors, coined by the media as the ’10 wise men,’ to ensure the government’s political efficacy after elections last February left no solid majority of any party. Specifically, the advisors are being asked to formulate precise proposals and issues to find common ground among the fractured parties to form a governing coalition.

Tensions are high after the attempts from the center-left party to find common ground fell apart. Italy is currently in the throes of an unemployment crisis, especially among Italian youth. While the Italian markets have been relatively calm, economic stability demands a functioning government. With Napolitano’s term ending May 15, this puts even more pressure on the President and his advisors, as the three fractured parties argue over apparently irreconcilable differences.

The likely outcomes from Napolitano’s advisors will be a continuance of former Prime Minister Mario Monti’s austerity measures and a call for reform laws to protect the country against the political deadlock it finds itself in.  The moniker given to Napolitano’s ’10 wise men’ shows the predicament and the impasse at issue. Only the most brilliant of strategists could find common ground in this situation in the month and half left on Napolitano’s term. With such dire circumstances in the Italian government, the country should hope the wise men can also walk a tight rope.

For more information:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/world/europe/italian-president-may-step-down-amid-deadlock.html?ref=italy&_r=0

http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2013/04/02/italian-president-girogio-napolitano-is-trying-to-avert-a-crisis-of-systemic-proportions/

http://news.yahoo.com/italys-wise-men-seek-end-political-crisis-president-144743141.html

Silvio Berlusconi, former prime minister of Italy, was convicted on Thursday as a result of an illegal wiretap and was sentenced to one year in jail. Berlusconi, who asserts his innocence, appeals the sentence and will remain free for the time being. Currently, Berlusconi is also appealing his conviction in a tax fraud case for which he was sentenced to a year in jail last October. Berlusconi also faces charges for allegedly paying for sex with an underage prostitute.

In this case, Berlusconi was found guilty of a breach of confidentiality for the leak of a wiretapped call in a newspaper in 2005. The call was between a political opponent and a police officer, and it involved a bank takeover. Berlusconi’s brother, the publisher of the newspaper in question, received a sentence of 2 years and 3 months in jail after being convicted of the same offense. The newspaper, il Giornale, printed the transcript of the wiretapped communication. Berlusconi has said he expects convictions in his tax fraud appeal and prostitution case, citing judicial persecution that arises during pivotal times in Italy’s history. The former prime minister’s defense counsel and political friends has levied similar accusations. Angelino Alfano, the leader of the People of Freedom party, claims that the court’s decision is an effort to marginalize Berlusconi through judicial action.

At this time when the attention of the world turns to the world’s smallest country, housed within the city of Rome, for the election of the 266^th pope of the Catholic Church, it is appropriate to discuss the relationship between the Vatican City State and the Italian Republic.  Today the Vatican is recognized as a Permanent Observer State by the United Nations and as a sovereign nation by Italy.

The Vatican was the capital of the Papal States until 1870 when its sovereignty was lost to the Kingdom of Italy under Victor Emmanuel II.  In 1929 the modern Vatican City State came into being when the Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican signed the Lateran Accords which recognized the sovereignty of the Vatican and provided the Vatican with compensation for the land taken in 1870.  The treaties also gave the Vatican extraterritorial authority over 23 sites within Rome, and five sites outside of the city.  Among these is the Basilica of St. John the Lateran and several other churches, as well as the Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo, where Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will spend the next few months while his permanent residence within the Vatican walls is being prepared.

After the signing of the Lateran Accords, all Italian laws that passed Parliament and were adopted by Italy were automatically adopted by the Vatican.  This changed in 2009 when the Vatican altered its policy so that the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State now examines each Italian law individually before adopting it.  According to Jose Maria Serrano Ruiz, the president of the Vatican commission on law revisions, the change in policy was a result of the “really exorbitant number” of Italian laws, their volatility, and their contrast with Church teaching.  Some speculated that this change was instigated by the decision of Italy’s highest court to allow a woman in a coma to have her feeding tube removed.

For more information:

http://www.historyofnations.net/europe/theholysee.html

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/vt.html

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/27/17106028-inside-castel-gandolfo-pope-benedicts-spectacular-temporary-retirement-home?lite

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_state/pdf-diplomazia/2004-july1-Resolution%20ONU%20Holy%20See.pdf

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7807501.stm

http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/12/31/us-italy-vatican-idUSTRE4BU3BD20081231

A new contender in Italian politics shows a promising first election in the February 2013 election.  In a play for power that features familiar faces such as the pope-backed Mario Monti and former disgraced Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the Stop the Decline party offers a libertarian-focused platform that promises to reduce taxes on Italians by 5% over the next 5 years. 

The party has received notable attention recently in its perceivably credible roadmap to achieving its goals of reducing Italy’s growing massive debt.  Stop the Decline represents a compelling case study in its entrance into Italian politics.  Its adept use of social media has been particularly effective in getting the party noticed.  In addition to its novel use of technology, its founding economists are imports from the United States including Michele Boldrin of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri; Sandro Brusco of Stony Brook University in New York State; and Andrea Moro of Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

Despite the momentum the party brings to the election, it has also had its share of controversy.  Stop the Decline’s candidate for prime minister, Oscar Giannino, earlier in the election resigned the party’s leadership, yet remained the prime minister candidate, after he was caught lying about his academic credentials from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.  His claim of having a masters degree in “Corporate Finance and Public Finance” turned out to be fabricated.  In fact, Giannino did not even attain a bachelor’s degree.  However, this controversy pales in comparison with what Italian voters are used to.  The exit of Berlusconi amidst his allegations of corruption are still fresh on the minds of Italian voters.  Ironically, the former prime minister is predicted to perform better than Giannino, whose party is still trying to establish its platform and its mission with Italian politics.

For further information:

http://www.ibtimes.com/oscar-giannino-italys-most-fashionable-politician-resigns-slideshow-1097020

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/21/world/europe/21iht-italy21.html?ref=italy&_r=0

On Monday, February 11, 2013, Pope Benedict sent shockwaves throughout the world.  For the first time in seven centuries, the Pope resigned.  Along with the 1.2 billion Catholics, the rest of the world sits and waits for Conclave, where the Cardinals will elect a new Pope.   There is, however, another election looming even closer than Conclave.  This Sunday, the Italians will go to the polls and elect a new Prime Minister. 

There are two contenders this year, incumbent Mario Monti, and the widely polarizing Silvio Berlusconi.  Experts have widely speculated that the somber mood the Pope’s resignation has created in Italy will bode well for Monti, as he has the backing of Pope Benedict XVI.  Monti is an Italian economist who was invited by President Napolitano to become the Prime Minister in the wake of Silvio Berlusconi’s resignation in 2011.  Monti, described as a “practicing Catholic,” is one of the first technocrats to assume the position.  Many think because of the debt issues currently facing the country, the Italians will choose the incumbent on election day. 

The second candidate, Silvio Berlusconi, always seems to be in the spotlight.  The resignation of the Pope, and his subsequent endorsement of Monti, will have some effect, probably negative, on Berlusconi’s election chances.  Amidst his many scandals,  Berlusconi, still appears to be a contender for the position. 

Soon enough the Catholic Church will have its new leader, but even sooner, the Italians will have a Prime Minister, either the same one, or one that resigned just over a year ago.