You may think that the passengers of the Costa Concordia- the ship that sank last week off the coast of Italy- were having a pretty awful week. But do you know who else is having a rough go of it? Captain Schettino’s wife, thank you very much.

Captain Francesco Schettino has been excoriated in the media for a laundry list of allegations- showing off, failing to report the incident quickly enough, evacuating too early, refusing to return to the ship during the evacuation under orders, claiming he slipped and fell into a lifeboat and generally not being a very responsible captain, all things told. The word “coward” may have been bandied about one or one thousand times after the scope of the tragedy was discovered.

But as Captain Schettino sits under house arrest, his wife has some harsh words for the media that’s raked her spouse over the coals. Fabiola Russo is quite displeased with the media depiction of her husband as some sort of a bumbling, not very brave guy. Speaking to Italian mag Oggi, she fumes:

“My husband has been transformed into a global media event, unprecedented. He loves ships, in-depth knowledge, has never ceased to study them, wanting to know the limits and behaviour. You are never limited to the helm. For this to his crews have always been a point of reference, a teacher. It is decided, firm and shiny, analyzes situations, understands and knows the deal. ”

Russo continues:

“He wasn’t in charge of the Concordia by chance, he knows how to do his job but sometimes even those who know how to do their job can make mistakes- that’s if he did make a mistake.”

Captain Schettino’s Wife Angry at Worldwide Media Portrayal of Husband’s Role in Costa Concordia Tragedy is a post from: The Inquisitr

Recovery crews have located another body in the wreckage of the ill-fated Costa Concordia, bringing the official death toll to 16 in the tragic cruise ship sinking.

Another sixteen people remain missing in the wreck, according to civil protection officials, though that figure has also been disputed as some report possible unregistered and unaccounted for individuals who may be among the missing Costa Concordia passengers. Officials managing the rescue and recovery effort describe an unpleasant scene, with not only the presence of bodies in the water and in the wreckage, but also rotting food and other debris. CNN quoted the man in charge of recovery on the “gruesome” work:

The man in charge of the rescue operation said the divers faced a grim task.

“Imagine that you left for holidays and that the power went off in your house. What would you find in your fridge? The divers are in there,” Ennio Aquilino said.

Two bodies were found over the weekend, and two on Monday, both still wearing lifejackets donned during the chaotic attempt at evacuating the doomed vessel. Another area in which passengers on the Costa Concordia are moving forward is in court, and American and Italian firms are starting up class action lawsuits against the company that owned and operated the cruise ship. One of two firms collaborating on legal action commented:

“We’ve been contacted by hundreds of victims and the numbers are growing moment by moment,” said Mitchell Proner, senior partner at Proner & Proner, one of two firms involved. He said crew members have also contacted the firm, “and their stories that are coming in are horrific — from lifeboats that were stuck halfway, passengers debating whether to jump or not. This was not an orderly evacuation.”

Proner said the suit will request $160,000 per passenger on the ship.

Costa Concordia Death Toll Rises to 16 as Body Found on Deck is a post from: The Inquisitr

The tragic sinking of the Costa Concordia cruise ship last week has brought with it the revelation of many fantastical safety oversights, seemingly a combination of screw-ups so vast that untangling the chain of events leading up to the deadly incident has been a massive undertaking.

The investigation has revealed many troubling things, including what is believed to be a foray into unapproved waters, the actions of the ship’s captain Francesco Schettino before, during and after the sinking and the handling of the aftermath by the cruise ship’s company. Survivors of the incident at sea initially reported a failure of the crew to adequately perform disaster drills as well, leaving many of the passengers confused as to how to exit the vessel, should an accident occur.

As news broke that another body, that of a woman whose name has not been released, was recovered near the wreck, Italian officials admitted that recovery efforts- which have been complex- may be complicated by the presence of unregistered passengers on the ship, people who may have been invited aboard or otherwise present but did not appear on ship rosters. It has been suggested that the woman whose body was located near the wreck has not been easy to identify due to nearly a week in the water, and that she may have been one of the “clandestine” passengers aboard the ill-fated ship.

Franco Gabrielli, head of the Civil Protection Authority, confirmed that there may ”have been X persons who we don’t know about who were inside, who were clandestine passengers aboard the ship.” The family of a woman from Hungary have asserted that their daughter was aboard the Costa Concordia at the time of the tragedy and the she has not been heard from since, but her name does not appear on official passenger lists.

Costa Concordia Search Hampered by Unregistered Passengers, Body Found May Be One is a post from: The Inquisitr

A damning telephone conversation between Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, and Gregorio De Falco, a captain in the Italian coast guard, has been released.  In it the cowardice of Captain Schettino comes glaring through.

In the tapes Schettino was ordered several times to get off his lifeboat and get back on the ship to help people.  He said no every time.

According to official transcripts of the call between the two, the Associated Press makes the following available,

DeFalco:

“Listen Schettino, There are people trapped on board. Now you go with your boat under the prow on the starboard side. There is a pilot ladder. You will climb that ladder and go on board. You go on board and then you will tell me how many people there are. Is that clear? I’m recording this conversation, Cmdr. Schettino…”

Schettino:

“In this moment, the boat is tipping…”

DeFalco:

“Look Schettino,”perhaps you have saved yourself from the sea, but I will make you look very bad. I will make you pay for this. Get on board, damnit!”

Schettino:

“Commander, please…”

DeFalco:

“Are you refusing to go aboard commander? Can you tell me the reason why you are not going?”

Schettino:

“I am not going because the other lifeboat is stopped.”

DeFalco:

“You go aboard. It is an order! Don’t make any more excuses. You have declared ‘abandon ship.’ Now I am in charge. You go on board! Is that clear? Do you hear me? Go, and call me when you are aboard. My air rescue crew is there.”

There was incredible chaos at the time Schettino was ordered back to ship, but his desire to run overcame his sworn duty.

Would you have behaved differently if you were Captian Schettino?

Watch a video of the whole conversation!

Costa Concordia Cruise Ship Captain Ordered Back To Ship [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Captain of the doomed cruise liner Costa Concordia may have steered the ship close to the rocky shores of Giglio in order to impress his head waiter who hails form the island.  Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that he brought the ship close to the island to do a foghorn salute to the local population.

Meanwhile, a State of Emergency has been declared in Italy after a strange liquid was reported to be leaking form the ship.  It is unknown if the liquid is oil or some other kind of toxic fluid.  The State of Emergency is just a formality in order to release funds to help with the disaster.

Italy’s Environmental Minister, Corrado Clini, said that the ship was surrounded with containment barriers to minimize any risk to the ocean.

The sinking of the Costa Concordia has already left six dead with many unaccounted for.  The Company who owns the ship has admitted that there may have been a significant “Human Error” that lead to the crashing of the ship.

Costa Crociere Chairman and CEO Pier Luigi Foschi the ship was following a pre-programmed route before it crashed.

He said that,

“this route was put in correctly. The fact that it left from this course is due solely to a maneuver by the commander that was unapproved, unauthorized and unknown to Costa.”

The Captain who had been detained by Italian Police for questioning could face multiple homicide charges.  He took to the air to defend himself earlier today, but the passengers who saw him on the ship weren’t buy it.

“Passengers who had been on the ship for days said he was partying, he was spending his time with women and drinking,”

Was the Captain of Capsized Ship Showing Off? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Three people are confirmed dead and more than 70 are unaccounted for after a tragic accident during which a luxury cruise liner ran aground on the Tuscan island of Giglio.

Hours later, the reports from those aboard the liner indicate a chaotic scene when the Costa Concordia began to tilt after it struck coral reef near Isola del Giglio. It’s probably not surprising several surviving passengers have likened their experience in escaping the doomed vessel to that of the Titanic, describing “nearly vertical” halls and walkways and climbing desperately to safety- many bearing bruised limbs from the arduous escape.

Passengers also complain of a disorganized journey from the start, saying that even before the Costa Concordia struck the reef, evacuation drills were delayed. Many allege that the ship’s crew was slow to direct terrified passengers after the chaos began, and by the time lifeboats were considered, the ship was listing too much for many of the emergency boats to be released.

The ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, has reportedly been arrested by Italian authorities on suspicion of manslaughter and abandoning ship. Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno gave a statement, in which he said of the investigation prior to Schettino’s arrest:

“At the moment we can’t exclude that the ship had some kind of technical problem, and for this reason moved towards the coast in order to save the passengers, the crew and the ship. But they didn’t send a mayday. The ship got in contact with us once the evacuation procedures were already ongoing.”

Originally, it was reported that as many as nine people had died, and it is unclear why the number has dropped to three. The dead have been identified as two French tourists and a crew member from Peru.

Cruise Ship in Italy: Captain Reportedly Arrested After Tragedy is a post from: The Inquisitr

A luxury cruise ship with 4,200 people aboard ran aground on the Tuscan island of Giglio, off the coast of Italy, on Friday, according to reports. At least six people are said to have been killed, with some reports indicating that eight may have died.

The Italian coast guard confirmed that at least three bodies have been recovered from the sea, and several are feared dead with an unspecified number of passengers still missing.

The AFP reports that passengers jumped overboard in panic after the Costa Concordia began to tilt after striking a coral reef near Isola del Giglio. It isn’t immediately known whether all of the dead are passengers or crew members.

‘We were having dinner when all of a sudden the lights went out. It seemed as if the ship struck something and then we heard a loud bang and everything fell to the floor,” a passenger told Sky News.

”The captain immediately came on the tannoy and said that there had been an electrical fault but it seemed very strange as the ship almost immediately began to list to one side. The glasses just slid off the table.”

The cruise ship reportedly left the port of Savona at 7.pm., and was on its way to its first port call in Civitavecchia when it ran aground at 9 p.m. local time on Friday night.

[Image credit: Peter Honvehlmann/EPA]

Cruise ship runs aground in Italy; at least six dead is a post from: The Inquisitr

Extortionate lending by criminal groups had become a “national emergency”, said the report by anti-crime group SOS Impresa.

In Italy this is not nickel and dime stuff, the report estimated that the mafia turned a profit in excess of $100 billion dollars last year alone.

A statement from the authors of the report said,

“With 65 billion euros in liquidity, the Mafia is Italy’s number one bank. Organised crime groups like the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, the Naples Camorra or the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta have long had a stranglehold on the Italian economy, generating profits equivalent to about 7 percent of national output. Extortionate lending had become an increasingly sophisticated and lucrative source of income, alongside drug trafficking, arms smuggling, prostitution, gambling and racketeering. The classic neighborhood or street loan shark is on the way out, giving way to organized loan-sharking that is well connected with professional circles and operates with the connivance of high-level professionals,”

The days of old world gangster handing out rolls of cash in dingy bars and coffee houses has been replaced by a high tech network of professional thugs who know the game and its ways.

They work with traditional credit markets and have found a way to blend the lucrative with the legitimate.

In Italy, more than 200,000 businesses have turned to organized crime for financial needs effecting tens of thousands of jobs.  This is often an arrangement of last resort because the borrower has no where else to go.

In Italy, more than 56% of borrowers have seen lending requirements tighten up at legitimate banks in Italy.

Would you go to the Mafia for a loan to save your business?

Mafia Now the Biggest “Bank” in Italy Due to Crisis is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mount Etna erupted on Wednesday night sending volcanic ash billowing into the sky. Etna is the highest active volcano in Europe and stands at 10,810 ft.

The volcano is located on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and regularly blasts out lava and ash.

During it’s most active periods the volcano can spew out ash for days, forcing the closure of the Catania airport. Today’s activity however has been mild in comparison and flights in and out of the area have continued over the short term.

According to reports the current volcano sent a column of ash up to 16,000 feet above sea level.

Researchers at the Catania Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology also took pictures and documented lava that could be seen flowing from a new crater on the southeast side of the summit. That lava flow was headed towards the uninhabited Valle del Bove region.

In the meantime here’s a really cool time-lapse video of the current eruption:

Mount Etna Erupts In Italy, Spews Hot Ash Into The Sky [Time Lapse Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Italy – Researchers attempting to determine the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin revealed on Tuesday that they don’t believe it could have been faked given their repeated attempted to do so.

According to the study medieval technology simply didn’t have the know-how to create a fake. Scientists attempted to recreate the sepia image of a crucified man and found that the physical and chemical characteristics were “impossible to obtain in a laboratory” using technology from the medieval period.

Scientists were eventually able to create a replicate but only when they used bursts of light from ultaviolet lasers, technology not available during the 13th or 14th century.

The study comes after since disputed carbon dating studies in Zurich, Arizona and Oxford in 1988 found that the Shroud of Turin was likely created in the period ranging from 1260 to 1390 and not 2,000 years ago as originally claimed.

Based off their study researchers say the Shroud was likely created with ”some form of electromagnetic energy (such as a flash of light at short wavelength).”

In a study from 1978-1981 researchers also said that ”no chemical or physical methods known” at the time could have produced the image.

For the time being the Shroud of Turin remains shrouded in mystery and religious lore.

This most recent study was conducted at Italy’s National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Development.

According to the  Montreal Gazette:

[Researchers] conducted 120 hours of X-rays and ultraviolet light tests and concluded that the marks were not made by paints, pigments or dyes and that the image was not “the product of an artist”, but that at the same time it could not be explained by modern science.

Do you think the Shroud of Turin is the sign of divine intervention or simply an object that happens to look like the face of a man being crucified?

Shroud Of Turin Couldn’t Have Been Faked [Research Findings] is a post from: The Inquisitr

New technologies have always been able to help researchers learn more about our lives, our health and the way we interact with each other.  This time, due to new technology, researchers have been able to detect different substances in the air.  What they are finding is pretty shocking! In Italy, where the first large tests were done, they were able to detect cocaine and marijuana in the air throughout most of Rome.

Researchers have long been able to find traces of drugs in the sewage systems of major cities but to find it in the air is next to impossible, unless there is a decent amount of the stuff. Researcher now have that ability and have used it throughout Italy to come up with some statistical models. An example, They were able to also find a direct correlation between the amount of drugs in the air and certain cancers and behavioral conditions.

They were able to use police and medical data to correlate that the areas with the highest concentrations of drugs in the air are also the areas with the highest incidence of diseases associated with those drugs, drug addiction and the typical crimes associated with increase drug use in a particular area.

The tests, for now seem to be an completely accurate barometer of the amount of drug use in a given area.

This can be very useful technology for anti-drug zealots.  Imagine the police being able to test the air and prevent crime?  Or how about using the levels of an area before and after prevention laws are put in place to determine their effectiveness?

As always these types of things could have consequences too.  Could high concentrations of cocaine in the air depress real estate prices?  Could they be used to justify harsh police procedures based on a neighborhood and not specific evidence.

Do you think this technology is going to help or hurt in the War on Drugs?

Study: Cocaine Levels in the Air Connected to Crime and Cancer Rates is a post from: The Inquisitr

Gold prices have been sliding backwards and forwards over the past several months in light of economic instability across the globe, but the trend lately has been towards a decline, which stayed true today as gold prices fell in light of the ongoing European economic woes.

The economic instability caused the euro to drop to near one-month lows against the US dollar, which prompted a drop in gold prices as many investors use gold to protect themselves from a drop in value of the dollar.

Much of the concern stems from the economic turmoil that came to a head in Greece and Italy over the past several months. Of particular concern to investors at the moment is Italy, which had to pay a higher than usual interest rate, 6.39 percent over 5.32 percent, in a recent debt auction.

The situation over in Greece has seen very little in the way of improvement either, with Greece Prime Minister Lucas Papademos saying on Monday that it’s uncertain whether or not the country will be able to make its deficit reduction by year’s end.

“You can argue that we haven’t seen anything but escalation (in the crisis) in the last two weeks and gold has not done anything meaningful on the upside, but investors have been voting with their caution and moving into gold,” Ole Hansen, senior manager at Saxo Bank said (via Reuters).

“The price hasn’t budged so someone is getting rid of gold up here. Whether that is because we are approaching the end of the year and the time when profits are booked and locked in … remains to be seen.”

via Christian Science Monitor

[Image credit: Shutterstock]

Gold prices drop as uncertainty over Greece and Italy grows is a post from: The Inquisitr

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi promised on Tuesday that he would resign from his post after parliament passes economic reforms which have been demanded by the European Union.

Parliament is expected to pass those reforms sometime next week which will officially mean the end of Berlusconi’s two-decade long political career.

Berlusconi lost his parliamentary majority after a routine vote on Tuesday morning.

In a statement regarding the situation the office of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano made the announcement of Silvio’s plans to resign.

Critics of the soon-to-be former prime minister have largely pointed the finger at his administration which has been involved in various acts of corruption, fax fraud and even paying for sex with a minor.  Opponents argue that with his international credibility shot he has no chance of pushing through must needed measures that would help secure Italy’s financial future.

At the time of this announcement Italian bond yields have neared ever closer to the red line of 7 percent while Berlusconi has been forced to accept IMF monitoring of the countries reforms which Berlusconi originally said would make the notoriously inflexible country more economically flexible.

Do you think Silvio Berlusconi resigning will help Italy through the financial mess that currently surrounds the country?

[Image via Simone Simone / Shutterstock.com]

Silvio Berlusconi Promises To Resign is a post from: The Inquisitr

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Sunday promised to punish protesters who helped escalate a rather peaceful mass rally into street fights throughout Rome.

Protesters in the region had joined Occupy Wall Street protesters to protest worldwide corruption against banks and politicians and during the protest 70 people were injured, property was damaged and garbage bins were set on fire.

Berlusconi, who barely survived a vote of confidence in his centre-right government’s economic policy on Friday says violent protesters must “be found and punished” and indicated that the rise in violent protesters was a “worrying signal.”

According to protesters the rally was going peacefully until a group of fringe protesters became destructive and violent. A group of 30 people covered their faces in black scarves and ski hats and looked for confrontation at every turn according to one protester.

Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno blamed the violence on “a few thousand thugs from all over Italy, and possibly from all over Europe, who infiltrated the demonstration”.

Amidst the violence of protesters were tens of thousands who turned out to peacefully protest the countries banking and political policies.

Police say that some protesters tried to stop the angry mobs that had descended however police intervention was ultimately required in the form of tear gas, water cannons and batons, all used to fend off stones and bottles which flew freely through the air.

Are you surprised that banking and political conditions all over the world are now leading to violence? I personally think it was only a matter of time.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi: Rioters Will Be Punished is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s official Amanda Knox is back on U.S. soil after flying into Seattle’s Sea-Tac Airport on Tuesday evening just 24 hours after her conviction was overturned by an Italian appeals court.

Speaking about her return home Knox told a group of supporters:

“I’m really overwhelmed right now” and  ”I was looking down from the airplane. It seemed like everything wasn’t real.”

Knox only spoke for a short period and revealed:

“I just, my, my family is the most important thing to me right now, and I just want to go and be with them.”

Speaking on their daughters behalf Edda Mellas said:

 ”All I can say is, thank you.”

Her dad Curt Knox went on to add:

“It’s been a long four years.”

Friends of Amanda plan to throw her a backyard barbeque in the near future to welcome her home. According to a spokeswoman for the Friends of Amanda Knox fund she plans to do “Just normal things that you would want to do after being in prison for four years for a crime you didn’t do.”

With a trial based on no evidence at all finally out of the way I’m personally happy to see an innocent American returned home. What do you think about Amanda Knox being set free?

Amanda Knox Back On Home Soil, Spends Time With Family is a post from: The Inquisitr

After spending years in jail for crime in which she claimed innocence, Amanda Knox has been acquitted on appeal in an Italian courtroom.

24-year-old Knox and 27-year-old ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito will be allowed to return to jail and collect personal effects before they are freed later today. The pair have been jailed in connection with the murder of Meredith Kercher, but several inconsistencies in the case have led to massive outcry and accusations that Knox and Sollecito had not been given a fair trial.

Although the murder convictions for both Sollecito and Knox have been overturned, a defamation charge for Knox remained due to her incorrect identification of a suspect in the murder originally. As the verdict was handed down, the family of Knox visibly rejoiced in the courtroom- while the family of Kercher appeared somber and sad at the developments. (Earlier, the Kercher family spoke out and said they felt that Meredith had been forgotten in all the discussion of the plight of Knox and her family throughout the appeals process.)

Before the acquittal, Knox tearfully addressed the court, again denying involvement in Kercher’s killing. She said:

“I’ve lost a friend in the worst, most brutal, most inexplicable way possible,” . I’m paying with my life for things that I didn’t do.

“She had her bedroom next to mine, she was killed in our own apartment. If I had been there that night, I would be dead… But I was not there. I did not kill. I did not rape. I did not steal. I wasn’t there. I wasn’t there at the crime.”

Knox and her family have indicated the former student intends on leaving Italy at the soonest possible opportunity.

Amanda Knox’s Conviction Overturned is a post from: The Inquisitr

The oddly polarizing Amanda Knox trial and appeal has been one of those things where there are not only a significant number of people who have a strong opinion (guilty or innocent) but also a large group who don’t feel they are swayed either way by the (admittedly very complex) evidence.

Regardless of what really happened that night several years ago between exchange students in Italy and what resulted in the tragic murder of Meredith Kercher, there are many elements of the tale that give people, Americans in particular- pause. Differing arrest and trial procedures and a young person subject to the justice system in a foreign country, for instance, make many sympathetic to the plight of Amanda Knox and her family.

So sympathetic, in fact, that the family of victim Meredith Kercher says their daughter and sister has been all but forgotten in the rush to ensure Knox was tried fairly and that all evidence was presented to clear her name should her appeal go in her favor. While the attractive young woman who has spent the better part of half a decade behind bars in Italy has garnered much support, Kercher’s family says their own daughter has been made an afterthought.

Speaking to press, sister Stephanie Kercher confirmed the Kercher family was “satisfied with the verdict… Nothing’s changed.” Brother Lyle referenced graphic post-mortem pictures of Meredith’s body and said:

“It’s very difficult to talk about forgiveness at this time, with the [media] hype around the case. And the defendant is involved in that. The brutality of it has been forgotten. There comes a point when we are just battling against what’s essentially a PR machine… I’m not sure we’ll be looking for forgiveness for a while.”

Stephanie Kercher lamented:

“It’s been four years now, and the focus has shifted for obvious reasons onto the proceedings at court at the moment, but Meredith has been forgotten in all of it.”

Mother Arline Kercher spoke of a daughter who was loving and caring, and talked about the shock of the loss of Meredith and how she continues to expect to see her daughter at every turn. Kercher’s mother said she believed her daughter had been murdered by her fellow students because she was “all that they weren’t.”

Amanda Knox Appeal: Victim’s Family Says Kercher Has Been Forgotten is a post from: The Inquisitr

With $6.7 million offered for one season with Italian team Virtus Bologna Kobe Bryant has revealed that playing for the team is “very possible” as players in the NBA continue to negotiate their contracts while fighting a league mandated lockout.

Part of Bryant’s childhood was in Italy when his father played in the European basketball league and Kobe recently told Gazzetta Dello Sport:

“It’s very possible. It would be a dream for me,” while adding, “There’s an opportunity that we’ve been discussing over the last few days. It’s very possible and that’s good news for me.”

While Bryant has been offered $6.7 million for a full season he has recently received another offer of $2.5 million for 10 days that would occur over 40 days from Oct. 9 through Nov. 16. If Kobe accepts the deal he would receive $1.5 million per game after taxes.

The contract is also generous in terms of returning to the Lakers, should the NBA lockout end before his contract runs it’s course Kobe Bryant will be free to return to his NBA team at no expense to himself.

Speaking further about his time in Italy Bryant told the Gazzetta:

“Italy is my home. It’s where my dream of playing in the NBA started. This is where I learned the fundamentals, learned to shoot, to pass and to (move) without the ball…All things that when I came back to America the players my age didn’t know how to do because they were only thinking about jumping and dunking.”

Regular play in the NBA is slated for late October however players and owners have not been able to strike a new labor deal at this time, instead choosing to fight over revenue, the salary cap structure and the available length for guaranteed contracts.

At this time training camps and 43 preseason games have already been cancelled.

The last time Virtus Bologna won a national title was 2001, the 15th such championship for the country.

Do you think Kobe Bryant would dominate on the European basketball circuit?

Kobe Bryant Says Playing For Italy Is “Very Possible” is a post from: The Inquisitr

An Italian appeals court could decide as early as this weekend if imprisoned American Amanda Knox will be set free or remain in the Italian jail system.

Knox’s attorneys have long claimed that there is simply not enough evidence to keep her behind bars for the 2007 murder of then roommate Meredith Kercher.

On Wednesday Knox’s family had the chance to visit with her, including her father Curt Knox who said his daughter is anxious as the appeal draws to an end. Curt told The Early Show on Wednesday morning:

“We want to be strong for her, to try to keep her spirits up. You know, she knows she is innocent and we know she is innocent. It’s a matter of having the court say that and, hopefully, we get to bring her home soon.”

Speaking about the case one of Knox’s defense attorney’s noted:

 ”There was no evidence against Raffaele and Amanda. Everything in the investigation is based on nothing.”

One of her attorney’s likened his client in court to the Roger Rabbit character Jessica Fox:

“I think Amanda Knox could be compared to Jessica Rabbit. You know, Jessica Rabbit’s line: ‘I’m not bad. Just drawn that way.’ She is not like that, just portrayed that way.”

Curt Knox also revealed that his daughter would address the court, when asked what she will say he said:

“We have discussed it, but, you know, it’s going to be tough – it’s going to be very painful, just from the perspective of, you know, essentially pleading for your life and that is a tough thing to deal with as a 24-year-old.”

What do you think Amanda Knox needs to say as she addresses the court?

Amanda Knox’s Dad Says She’ll Plead For Her Life is a post from: The Inquisitr

Al Pacino was awarded with a special prize and presentation by the Venice film festival on Sunday for his directorial project “Wilde Salome.”

Pacino drew large crowds where he received the Jaeger Lecoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award at a gala awards ceremony.

Wilde Salome is a documentary about the Irish writer and poet Oscar Wilde. The movie is also an exploration of the author.

When asked what type of move he had made Pacino said of his experiment in directing:

“I guess what I tried to do is … create a story,” while he added, ”But I don’t know what it is. I like to say it’s a documentary because it’s not a film, but then it’s not a documentary either, so I’m confused too.”

Speaking about his love of making movies Pacino said of directing his own movie:

“As soon as I started making my own films, I actually became easier on directors”

“Because I was very difficult at first. I really didn’t know the medium, I didn’t know what the needs of a director were. Once I started, the magic of movies came into my life.”

When asked what his future held Pacino responded:

“I have movies that are still coming at me and I always say that I’m going to be selective. I always say that, but I never am.

“I’m saying again — ‘I’m going to do it only when I feel it’s the thing to do for me.’ I hope I follow that philosophy. That’s my future. It’s blank.”

Being able to have a Hollywood career at 71-years-old is impressive in and of itself, being able to still be selective about the roles you can take is even more impressive.

Are you a fan of Pacino’s work? I personally get excited seeing what he’ll choose to do next.

Al Pacino Honored By Venice Film Festival is a post from: The Inquisitr