Freedom of press has been enshrined in Italian law for over 150 years, but it's not something we should take for granted. On World Press Freedom Day, The Local takes a look at some of the main issues affecting freedom of the media in Italy.

1. Italy has one of Europe's lowest press freedom rankings

... But it's getting better. In Reporters Without Borders' 2018 World Press Freedom Index, Italy climbed six places compared to the year before, but still lags behind its European neighbours, ranked 46th in the world.


Freedom of press was first established in Italy after its unification in 1861, and after the fall of Benito Mussolini's fascist regime in the 1940s, this law was updated. The recent fascist past means many Italians are wary of any form of control or censorship over the media.

Yet Reporters Without Borders said that violence against journalists in Italy was "alarming and keeps growing". The watchdog points to threats made against reporters by organized crime groups, anarchists and fundamentalists.

People living in the Soviet Union had a wonderful phrase to describe the two biggest circulation state-controlled newspapers, Pravda (meaning "truth") and Izvestia (meaning "news"). There's no truth in Pravda and no news in Izvestia, was the oft-repeated expression. It is unfortunate that the mainstream media in the Western nations these days don't have similar sorts of names, since it deprives us of an endless source of amusement in coming up with similarly apposite phrases about them.

It is, however, increasingly clear that on the great issues of the day, you are about as likely to find the truth in them as you would have done in Pravda, although I expect their sports and gardening sections are still relatively reliable. As for the important political and geopolitical issues of the day, I tend to imagine that on the walls next to the desks in the offices of many of these papers and broadcasters are the following instructions:

A leader of the Ukrainian Svoboda Party Irina Farion declared that Russian-speakers in Ukraine are mentally retarded, and the biggest problem for Ukraine. The monumental stupidy of her claim, is that it insults not only roughly half of Ukrainians who speak Russian, but it also insults her fellow Ukrainian nationalists, including President Petro Poroshenko himself.

Her speech is not worth anyone's attention for any purpose other than to document the insanity plaguing Ukraine, but I would like to demonstrate how her words are not only racist, but demonstrate a profound ignorance of the Ukrainian reality, bordering on a desire to genocidally change it. Four years ago to this day, fascists of a similar mindset as her, killed hundreds of people in Odessa. Some were burned alive, some were strangled including a pregnant woman, as documented in this article - be warned, the photos are very graphic. Make no mistake, this is indicative of a fascist crisis in the heart of Europe.

As a result, I will briefly summarize her statement, however, a full translation into English can be found here at this website documenting the tragic events in Ukraine. I will be relying on the Ukrainian version of her ridiculous speech, rather than the Russian version. This is not so much to capture her original words most accurately, as Russian and Ukrainian are close enough languages that there is almost no such thing as lost in translation, between these two eastern Slavic languages. Rather, it would be amusing to make the point that speaking a certain language - in this case, Ukrainian - does not dictate political views.

Thousands of people have hit the streets of Glasgow to march in pro-independence rallies. It comes as Scotland, which opted to remain part of the UK in a 2014 referendum, sees the movement re-emerge in the wake of Brexit.

Participants of the All Under One Banner (AUOB) march gathered in Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow before walking in the direction of George Square. The event is open to "everyone who desires an independent nation," according to organizers.

Television has taught us that the crack CSI experts and their state-of-the-art technology can solve any crime through the power of science. In reality, more often than not the crime-detection technology of the past has turned out to be pseudoscience at best, and outright fraud at worst. And, of course, it has been used to put innocent people in jail. Here are 4 Ways The Crime Lab Can Frame You.

The FBI to date has released only two videos recording the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon, a fact that has led to numerous conspiracy theories about the source of destruction as an inside job. One query is why the FBI seized eyewitness tapes of the Pentagon's partial destruction in the first place. The speed and completeness of the seizures, and the scarcity of actual footage, are among the more puzzling aspects of the investigation. However, the FBI says it has released all relevant videos of the incident.

Videos from Nearby Businesses

The FBI's speedy retrieval of the tapes is corroborated by several witnesses, among them Jose Velasquez, a gas-station supervisor whose security cameras allegedly recorded the moment of impact when Flight 77 hit the Pentagon. "Within minutes, the FBI was there and took the film," Velasquez told the Richmond Times Dispatch. In addition, according to Gertz and Scarborough's "Inside the Ring," a hotel near the Pentagon may have captured footage on its security camera. This footage was seized by the FBI, who said the tapes didn't record the attack.

FBI Claims Little Internal Footage

The lack of footage available from the Pentagon's own security cameras has also raised questions. In 2002, the FBI released clips from two security cameras, both located north of the crash site. These show only a bloom of flame -- the impact and explosion -- and are set too far away from the impact site to provide any details for significant evidence. The bureau says that there were no other security cameras recording footage.


Theorists Question Pentagon Damage

A third piece of the puzzle is the testimony of theorists who believe that the damage done to the Pentagon was insufficient in breadth or depth to be the impact of a Boeing 757 aircraft. They maintain that a wide-bodied aircraft would have done considerably greater damage. According to the 9/11 Review website, this theory can be proved inaccurate considering the bullet-like shape of the aircraft, the soundness of the structure and the blast-hardened facade that resulted from the crash. Furthermore, the 9/11 Review site notes that such theories are often "based on erroneous descriptions of the impact damage."
Testimony of Jacqueline McGuire

In a freedom of information lawsuit filed by Scott Bingham, FBI special agent Jacqueline McGuire testified that she inspected 85 videotapes to find evidence for 9/11 investigators. Eighty-four of these tapes remain withheld. However, McGuire's testimony notes that only 13 of these tapes gave views of the crash site, and 12 of those showed the crash site only after the impact of the plane. Therefore, only one of the tapes she reviewed shows the impact of Flight 77, she said. The FBI directs inquirers to its vault, an electronic reading room with documents available to the public. The vault includes many videos and images of the Pentagon incident, including debris from the plane, but most of the images are of the aftermath of the attack.

Michael Stratford is a National Board-certified and Single Subject Credentialed teacher with a Master of Science in educational rehabilitation (University of Montana, 1995). He has taught English at the 6-12 level for more than 20 years. He has written extensively in literary criticism, student writing syllabi and numerous classroom educational paradigms.

North Korea has adjusted its time zone to match Seoul, in a move that Pyongyang's official news agency calls an early step towards "becoming one" with the South.

The Saturday change saw North Korea set its clocks 30 minutes ahead, doing away with "Pyongyang Time," which was created in 2015. The move was fulfilled through a decree of the country's Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly.

The North's official KCNA agency called the move the "first practical step" to "speed up the process for the North and the South to become one and turn their different and separated things into the same and single ones."

Three people have been stabbed in western Dutch city of The Hague, according to local authorities. The suspect, who was described as being in a "confused" state, was arrested after being shot in the leg by police at the scene.

The incident happened at the Johanna Westerdijkplein in the center of the city at around 3.30pm local time. Police issued a statement on Twitter confirming the suspect had been known to them.

The Trump administration said Friday that it is ending special immigration protections for about 57,000 Hondurans, adding them to hundreds of thousands of immigrants from other countries battered by violence and natural disasters who are losing permission to be in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's widely anticipated decision not to renew temporary protected status for Hondurans means an estimated 428,000 people from several countries face rolling deadlines beginning late this year to leave or obtain legal residency in other ways.

Hondurans will have until Jan. 5, 2020, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said.

President Donald Trump - who wants to curtail legal immigration and has been cracking down broadly on illegal immigration - and his supporters note that the protections were never meant to be permanent.

'God damn you to hell!' after he loses his house to legal fees in 'witch hunt' congressional Russia probe

A former campaign communications adviser to Donald Trump blew up at Democratic U.S. Senate aides on Tuesday at the end of a behind-the-scenes grilling connected to their wide-ranging Russia investigation.

New York-based political consultant Michael Caputo said he has spent $125,000 on attorneys to help him navigate the committee's demands for documents and testimony, ruining his children's economic future and forcing him to sell his family home.

Calling the probe a 'witch hunt,' Caputo demanded to know who is funding a secretive effort to continue digging into unsubstantiated allegations that Trump has ties with the Kremlin.

'What America needs is an investigation of the investigators,' he said. 'I want to know: Who is paying for the spies' work and coordinating this attack on President Donald Trump?'