Italy referendum
ROME: Italy’s highest court gave the green light yesterday to a referendum that Prime Minister Matteo Renzi says will guarantee political stability and on which he has staked his future.
Renzi has said he will resign if voters do not approve the constitutional changes he hopes will end Italy’s notoriously shaky political system that has prevented any government completing a full term since World War II.
It is a huge political gamble for the centre-left leader, with polls showing many of the 50 million voters undecided. – Reuters
Off the hook
PRISTINA: A former priest wanted on child sex abuse charges from the 1970s and 1980s should not be extradited to Britain because the crimes were committed too long ago, a court in Kosovo ruled yesterday.
Lawrence Soper, who is now in his seventies, was detained in the western town of Peja, where he had lived for four or five years under the name Andrew Charles Kingston. He is accused of sex offences while he was a teacher in Britain. – Reuters
Special panda birth
VIENNA: A naturally conceived giant panda cub had been born in Vienna, the city’s main zoo announced yesterday.
Pictures and video footage released by the zoo showed the tiny pink newborn clinging to its mother, Yang Yang. The latest arrival, born on Sunday, is just 10cm long and weighs 100g, so small that zookeepers have been unable to determine its gender.
The zoo said its panda area would remain closed for the time being. – Reuters
New asthma pill
LONDON: A new treatment for asthma could be a “game-changer” against the condition, according to a new study.
The medicine, Fevipiprant, is the first new asthma pill to be developed in 20 years. Sufferers still mostly use inhalers or steroids.
But taking Fevipiprant twice daily was shown to “significantly decrease” asthma symptoms and improve lung function. – The Independent
De Niro to get award
SARAJEVO: The Sarajevo Film Festival is to present Robert de Niro with a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to film on Friday.
De Niro will present Martin Scorsese’s digitally restored movie Taxi Driver, in which he starred.
British director Stephen Frears, who will get an award for his extraordinary contribution to the art of film, will present his latest film, Florence Foster Jenkins. – Reuters
Teenager raped
LONDON: A 17-year-old British girl was raped in Tenerife earlier this week by a man posing as a taxi driver.
The teenager, from Blackburn, had been at a bar in the popular resort of Playa de las Americas. After searching for a taxi she was picked up by a man driving an Opel Astra, police said.
A passer-by who heard her screams alerted police, who intercepted his car and arrested him at the scene. – The Independent