Italy's Sanremo Festival Will Allow Non-Italians To Compete, But ....

Although the San Remo Festival will permit Non Italian Citizens to compete, the entrants must STILL perform the song in ITALIAN, BUT in an interesting development will for the FIRST time, the Festival will allow Regional Dialect Italian songs to be performed.

Of course, this change is being exploited politically. In Italy regional dialects (Neapolitan, Sicilian or Milanese, etc) often have non-linguistic connotations: the federal, "anti-Rome" Northern League often uses dialect as a form of protest.

Italy's Sanremo Allows Non-Italians To Compete

Billboard Magazine; By Mark Worden, Milan; November 18, 2009

The organizers of Italy's flagship Sanremo Festival have announced some important changes in the rules and regulations for the 60th edition, which will run from Feb. 16 to Feb. 20, 2010.

The festival's artistic director, Gianmarco Mazzi, tells Billboard.biz, "First and foremost, we have suspended the rule that said that only Italian citizens could write or perform songs in the competition."

Although foreign guests have always been a feature of the five-night show, they have until now been prevented from competing in the contest. Yet Mazzi said that it was "still early days" when asked to name any foreign acts that might take advantage of the new rule.

Another regulation that has gone is that only songs in the "Italian language" may be performed in the contest. As of 2010, acts may also sing in any one of Italian's numerous regional dialects (such as Neapolitan, Sicilian or Milanese), although Mazzi says he is "sorry that this change has been exploited politically."

In Italy regional dialects often have non-linguistic connotations: the federal, "anti-Rome" Northern League (which is a member of Silvio Berlusconi's government coalition) often uses dialect as a form of protest.

Foreign acts would have to have songs translated for the performance if they were not written in a qualifying language.

Other festival innovations include a special evening in which today's stars will be invited to sing covers of their favorite Sanremo songs from the last 60 years. Mazzi says: "This should be good. They have over 1,700 to choose from!"

As is the custom, the festival will be divided into a main contest and a "Young Artists" section, which will be called "Sanremo New Generation." The number of competitors has been reduced to 14 in the main contest and eight in the "New Generation." The embargo on young artists performing or releasing their songs prior to the festival has also been lifted. The only limitation will be on a TV performance of a song prior to the festival.

"We have found the right mix of innovation and tradition," comments Mazzi.

After years of discord with the recording industry, the 2009 festival, under the auspices of Mazzi and popular TV presenter Paolo Bonolis, was generally considered a success. Mazzi says he is confident that 2010's presenter, Anna Clerici, "will also give us a great festival."

Obit: Joseph Rago, 49; Fought vs Infamous Batavia "Fuggedaboudit"

Joseph Rago, Chicago area attorney unsuccessfully tried to stop the Scurrilous and Defamatory "Fuggedaboudit: A Little Mobster Comedy" , a play that was staged by the Batavia Middle School "Bada Bing Players", that was written by the Jewish drama and communications teacher, Matthew Myers, and supported by the Jewish Batavia District Superintendent Jack Barshinger.

The cries of Anguish from ALL segments of the Italian American Community were IGNORED.

Suggestions that the play be replaced with "Shylock: The Bloodsucker" by the Temple MoneyChangers" was ignored.

Joseph Rago, 1960-2009: Geneva attorney was a prosecutor and defense lawyer

Italian-American advocate tried cancel Batavia middle school play 'Fuggedaboudit: A Little Mobster Comedy'

Chicago Tribune: By Joan Giangrasse Kates; Special to the Tribune; November 17, 2009

Joseph Rago, a Geneva attorney and former assistant state's attorney in Kane and DeKalb counties, was fiercely proud of his Italian-American heritage.

Three years ago, when a coalition of Italian-American groups asked him to help prevent the opening of a Batavia middle school play that they argued unfairly stereotyped Italian-Americans, he was more than happy to pitch in.

"He took the case wanting to bring some attention to it," said his brother Matteo, also an attorney.

Although the motion to pull the curtain on "Fuggedaboudit: A Little Mobster Comedy" failed, Mr. Rago felt it was a fight worth fighting, his family said.

He was later awarded the Leonardo da Vinci Jurisprudence Award of Excellence from the Order Sons of Italy in America, one of the nation's oldest and largest Italian heritage organizations.

"Joe used to say to me, 'When I put my head down on my pillow I know I can sleep, because I did the right thing,' " said his wife of 22 years, Nanci.

The founder and first president of the Kane County Justinian Society of Lawyers, Mr. Rago, 49, died of pancreatic cancer Friday, Nov. 13, in his Geneva home.

The son of Italian immigrants, Mr. Rago was born and raised on Chicago's Northwest Side and graduated in 1978 from Broadview Academy in far west suburban La Fox. After receiving a bachelor's degree in history and economics from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich., he got a law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago.

Mr. Rago worked as an assistant state's attorney for Kane County and later was a first assistant state's attorney for DeKalb County. In 2001, he opened his own practice in Geneva, where he took on criminal defense and personal injury cases, his brother said.

In 1996, Mr. Rago founded the Kane County chapter of the Justinian Society of Lawyers, a national organization for Italian-American attorneys. Mr. Rago also was a Geneva Township Republican precinct committeeman for many years.

"When he felt strongly about something, you could just see it in his face," said Mark Wissing, chairman of the Geneva Township Republican Organization.

Survivors also include a son, Joseph Jr.; two daughters, Abigail and Rachel; two other brothers, Peter and Michael; and a sister, Mary Newbold.

www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-obit-rago-17-nov17,0,281593.story

How Italy Beat the World to a Smarter Grid

The Eyes of the world are on the remarkable experience of Italy, which in less than a decade has become the surprising world leader in the development of a smarter electrical grid. Some 85% of Italian homes are now outfitted with smart meters.

Enel engaged in "whirlwind" installation that saved the utility and the customer money. Customers can now time certain activities such as washing machine use to lower rate periods.

How Italy Beat the World to a Smarter Grid

An aggressive rollout of intelligent electrical meters is saving Italy's Enel $750 million per year?and cutting customers' bills

Business Week; By Mark Scott; November 16, 2009,

After several false starts, 2010 finally could be the year when smart meters go global. The technology, which lets energy companies and consumers more closely monitor their electricity consumption, has many champions. The U.S. government has earmarked $4.5 billion from the stimulus package to subsidize the rollout of smart meters nationwide. European Union politicians are pushing hard to connect 80% of the region's homes and businesses to smart meters by 2020. Even emerging giants like India and China aim to install the technology in new buildings.

But with billions of dollars on the line, policymakers don't want to make costly mistakes. Many of them are thus eyeing the remarkable experience of Italy, which in less than a decade has become the surprising world leader in the development of a smarter electrical grid.Some 85% of Italian homes are now outfitted with smart meters?the highest percentage in the world and more such devices than exist in the whole of the U.S. Utilities worldwide, such as San Francisco's PG&E (PCG) and Florida's FPL Group (FPL), are eager to learn how Enel pulled off its smart meter revolution.

Back in 2001, Enel (ENEI.MI)?the country's dominant utility?started a five-year program to install smart meters across its customer base of 40 million homes and businesses. "We wanted to improve efficiency, create higher margins, and help customers reduce their energy bills," says Livio Gallo, Enel's director of infrastructure and networks, who oversaw the smart meter rollout. Another motivation, according to outside experts, was to throttle rampant power theft and other forms of fraud.

Time-of-Day Pricing Info

By 2006, Enel had invested $3 billion in the initiative, which included meters of its own design that send usage readings automatically to the central office and display time-of-day pricing to customers. The Italian utility can now collect customer data and manage its energy network remotely, instead of sending out costly technicians. And improved data on consumers' electricity habits permit Enel to run its power plants more efficiently. All told, the utility says it is reaping annual cost savings of $750 million from the new technology?allowing it to recoup the infrastructure investment in just four years.

Meanwhile, the introduction of smart meters has given Enel customers greater control over their energy bills. Typically, the meter is installed in a convenient place in the home?say, in a kitchen cupboard or the laundry room. When electricity prices are high, for instance during the peak evening period or on cold winter nights, the smart meter informs household members of higher rates, allowing them to alter their habits (say, postponing a load of laundry until the next morning) to avoid big charges. Analysts figure that attentive Enel customers have been able to cut their bills by as much as one-half by keeping close tabs on energy prices and usage.

"Smart meters give customers more control over how much they want to spend," says Michael Pollitt, assistant director of the Electricity Policy Research Group at the University of Cambridge's Judge Business School.

The dual benefits for companies and consumers explain why politicians have embraced the technology. According to ABI Research, the worldwide installed base of smart meters will more than triple from 2008 to 2014, to 180 million units. The EU, with its population nearing 500 million and mandatory installation targets for 2020, represents 64% of that figure, or 115 million smart meters. North America is No. 2 at 45 million units, with Asia Pacific and Latin America third and fourth, respectively. Among the leading makers of smart meters today are U.S. companies such as General Electric (GE), Itron (ITRI), and Sensus Metering Systems, as well as Luxembourg's Elster and Switzerland's Landis+Gyr.

Whirlwind Installation

With so many smart meters to be installed in the near future, Enel's Gallo figures other utilities can learn a lot from the Italian experiment. First of all, he recommends that companies roll out the technology as quickly as possible. Instead of gradual installation, a whirlwind program, often in just three or four years, helps achieve a fast return on investment. That may involve higher up-front costs, but it gives utilities quick access to consumer data and greater control over their energy network, which can lead to ancillary cost savings. "In the long run, it's more efficient than installing smart meters over a decade," says Gallo.

The other lesson from Enel's smart meter rollout is more basic: focus on the customer. When the company first started installing the technology, recalls Gallo, management spent time educating the public about its benefits. That involved town hall meetings and discussions with consumer protection groups, which had voiced concerns over the collection of data about individuals' energy habits. While assuaging people's doubts, Enel was able to explain that most customers' bills would go down because of smart meters?helping increase customer loyalty.

Yet despite the cost savings, consumer advocates still caution that not everyone will benefit from smart meters. Vulnerable groups, particularly the poor and elderly, may become victims to price spikes. And privacy concerns that utilities could use the data collected through smart meters without the permission of customers still dog many potential rollouts.

Yet Enel's successful adoption of smart meters shows the benefits that the technology has to offer, both to companies and to their customers. Says Rick Hanks, smart meter practice leader for Britain and Ireland at consultancy Accenture (ACN): "Smart meters are a vital part as everyone looks to become more energy-efficient."

Scott is a correspondent in BusinessWeek's London bureau.

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/nov2009/gb20091116_319929.htm

Italy Convicts 23 US CIA Agents for Rendition for Torture

The Arrogance or Incompetence of the US CIA agents was Astounding in their Illegal and Undemocratic Rendition, also in violation of Italy's Sovereignty.

A case was easily built against the US CIA agents, since credit card receipts, cell phone call and Email records, and a plethora of other evidence, that indicated that the agents even often dropped their "cover", in bold and brazen actions, that is an embarrassment , and sure

identifies them as Maxwell Smarts rather than James Bonds.

None of the Agents will be surrendered by the US, But all the agents are in Peril if they travel to any EURO country, or ANY country that has an extradition treaty with Italy.

Italian Court Convicts 23 Americans of Kidnapping Muslim Cleric

Case is blow to anti-terrorism program known as extraordinary rendition

Chicago Tribune;.By Maria de Cristofaro and Sebastian Rotella; November 5, 2009

ROME-- An Italian judge convicted 23 Americans on Wednesday of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric off the streets of Milan in 2003, a sweeping verdict against one of the CIA's most valued anti-terrorism tools -- the practice known as extraordinary rendition.

The decision was a victory for Italian anti-terrorism prosecutors and police who spent six years building a massive case. The two-year trial exposed details of a secretive world and was the first anywhere to challenge the program under which the CIA abducted suspects and spirited them to third countries for interrogation.

A clandestine team of U.S. and Italian operatives abducted Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, a militant cleric suspected of recruiting fighters for Iraq and Afghanistan, and he was flown to Egypt, where he claims to have undergone months of torture and abuse.

The case sparked international uproar, and the governments of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his predecessor tried repeatedly to scuttle the trial.

"I think it is very important for everyone that this trial was completed," said Armando Spataro, the lead prosecutor. He added: "The message of this important ruling -- to nations, governments, institutions, secret services, etc. -- is that we cannot use illegal instruments in our effort against terrorism. Our democracies, otherwise, would betray their principles."

Judge Oscar Magi acquitted three other Americans, including the former CIA station chief in Italy, because of diplomatic immunity. He also set aside charges against five Italian intelligence officials, including the former chief and deputy chief of Italy's spy agency. But he convicted two other Italians.

The trial was held in Milan, and the Americans were in absentia. Given that the U.S. government has declined to cooperate with the prosecution, it seemed unlikely that any would spend time in an Italian prison. However, the convicted Americans may be at risk if they travel to Europe.

The judge issued an eight-year prison sentence for Robert Seldon Lady, the former CIA chief in Milan. Testimony indicated that Lady initially opposed abducting Nasr as unnecessary and dangerous but ultimately became the ground-level architect of the operation. The other U.S. operatives were given five-year sentences, and the Italians received three-year terms.

"The Milan court sent a powerful message: The CIA can't just abduct people off the streets," said Joanne Mariner, terrorism program director at Human Rights Watch. "It's illegal, unacceptable and unjustified."

The Bush administration aggressively expanded a rendition program that was already in place. Human-rights advocates believe U.S. agents transported terrorism suspects to the custody of countries including Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Libya and Syria. The exact number of people is unknown.

The Obama administration has cracked down on what it calls abusive tactics, but U.S. officials have said spy agencies will continue renditions, albeit with more oversight. On Wednesday, the CIA declined to comment, as it has throughout.

Special correspondent de Cristofaro reported from Rome, and Rotella from Washington. Tribune Newspapers reporters Julian E. Barnes, Paul Richter and Greg Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-thur-nw-cia-renditionnov05,0,31329.story

San Diego "Little Italy" Adopts Adjoining Elementary School

While I applaud efforts to teach the Italian LANGUAGE, I have for 40 years been preaching that Italian American kids need to be taught

about Italian and Italian American CULTURE (not merely Cuisine) !!!!

"Little Italy" Merchants have adopted Washington Elementary school, (that was built in 1915, and one of the oldest elementary schools in the city, and at one time served largely Italian-American children who lived in the area), and have encouraged adding to the cirriculum, Italian dance, language, art and history instruction.

Little Italy

School Studies Italian Roots

Nearby Merchants Help Support Washington Elementary Programs

San Diego Union Tribune; By Maureen Magee; Thursday, November 5, 2009

Follow the sound of Italian folk music at Washington Elementary School and you'll find dozens of children practicing traditional Neapolitan dances.

"Forward, two, three, four and back, two, three, four," the students chant as they concentrate on the movements and listen to the melodies of fiddles and accordions.

"I've never danced like this before," said Leo Arellano, 9, as he shuffled through the "Balloindodici" dance. "But it's OK. I like it. This is how they dance in Italy."

Italian dance, language, art and history instruction have recently been added to the curriculum at Washington. The school, located on the edge of Little Italy, has carved out a new relationship with the merchants and residents in and around the neighborhood ? many of whom attended school there themselves.

"The people of Little Italy have deep personal and emotional connections with this school," said Principal Janie Wardlow, who just started her second year at the campus. "I really believe the school and community should be partners. It's also important for the students to know about another culture and, at the same time, to learn about their school's identity."

As part of this new partnership, Washington students were recently invited into the shops and cafes that line India Street to trick-or-treat. Some members of the Little Italy Association bought tambourines for the dance students, who will perform at the neighborhood's annual tree-lighting ceremony in December.

But the association's support isn't limited to Italian programs. It also sponsors the campus jog-a-thon, and some of its members volunteer on campus and tutor children.

"Our community loves to support the Italian heritage and culture, but we also want to make sure the kids are taken care of," said Chris Gomez, district manager of the Little Italy Association. "This is one of the oldest elementary schools in the city, and we want to make sure it carries on and that it thrives."

The original Washington campus was built in 1915, and at one time served largely Italian-American children who lived in the area.

Today, about one-third of the 280 students live in the local 92101 ZIP code, about one-third of their parents work in the area, and nearly one-third attend through the San Diego Unified School District's Choice Program. About 10 percent of the students are homeless.

The association is working with Washington to promote the school and recruit new students. Many fear that if enrollment drops, the district would close the campus to save money.

"We want this school ? and the history behind it ? to live on," Gomez said. "The school is important to Little Italy and to San Diego."

The school is reaching well beyond its neighborhood to enhance the Italian curriculum that supplements its regular comprehensive education.

For example, Washington recently won a $6,000 grant from the Italian government to offer language classes to all students ? preschool through fifth grade. A special instructor will begin giving language lessons during and after school later this year.

In addition, Washington has applied for a magnet grant so it can establish an international studies program. The school also hopes to become part of the rigorous International Baccalaureate program.

"I started teaching here 26 years ago, when we had a lot of Italian students," fourth-grade teacher Leticia Harper said. "This is the first time I can remember us having a real emphasis on the history and culture. It's nice to give them that sense of their community."

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/nov/05/school-studies-italian-roots-little-italy/