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• Lawyer sent twin sister to court when she was busy

  Two Italian women have been accused of fraud because one of them pretended to be the other one – in court. (Note: The photo is not of those sisters, whose last names were not used in the story. The photo is from "The Patty Duke Show," which was about twin cousins.) Read More... Posted Sep 29 2008, 11:00 AM by Brett Singer with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: news, twins, crime, Italy, lawyers, twin sisters, court, legal, Brett Singer, twin, sisters, italian, the patty duke show, patty duke

• 55-Year-Old Births Healthy Quadruplets

  A 55-year-old woman whose name has not been released to the public gave birth to four baby boys in Italy this week. Born two months premature, the babies are in incubators at the hospital, but they are all doing well. Their father, 38-year-old Pabla Maghar Singh, says that he and his wife are overjoyed about the new arrivals. Read More... Posted Aug 24 2008, 04:25 PM by Hannah Tennant-Moore with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: immigrants, IVF, in vitro fertilization, quadruplets, Italy, india, birth rate, 55 years-old, indian woman, assisted fertility, pabla maghar singh

• The U.S. of A: Fertility Capital of the World

  If you've got at least 20 minutes to spare and a few cups of coffee to drink, take some time to read this week's cover story in the New York Times Magazine. The subject: The fact that the birth rate in Europe is declining so drastically, particularly in places like Italy and Greece, that the world may run out of Europeans in the not-too-distant future. Personally, I zeroed in on the portion of the story that attempts to explain why America's birth rate is higher than pretty much everywhere else in the developed world. (This section is located on page six of the online version, for those of you reading along at home.) Several potential explanations are offered, but Carl Haub of the Population Reference Board believes the most significant factor may be -- and do try not to spit up your coffee as you're reading -- the flexibility that exists in the American workplace. Read More... Posted Jun 30 2008, 08:33 AM by Jen Chaney with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: new york times, work, Italy, career, greece, low birth rates, government subsidies, workplace, population growth

• Woman held captive for out of wedlock birth is finally free

  Just when you think you've heard it all… A 47 year-old woman named Maria Monaco was found locked in a room in a house near Naples, Italy. Her family had kept her there since 1990. Her crime was getting pregnant out of wedlock. The police were acting on an anonymous tip and found Ms. Monaco "in a confused state... Read More... Posted Jun 21 2008, 10:00 AM by Brett Singer with | with no comments Filed under: news, baby, birth, babies, fathers, mothers, religion, family, police, daughters, Italy, wtf, sons, scandal, scary, beliefs, Brett Singer, out of wedlock, Maria Monaco, crazy people, italian, Caribinieri

• Italy's Full of Big Babies

  Babies are cute, aren't they? It's wonderful when they're little and you're their whole world, and then, slowly, you watch them learn about the world aside from you and learn to make their way into and through that world. That's what kids do, right? Grow up and, eventually, move the hell out? But what if your baby never grew up? What if your kid just hung around...indefinitely? That's what parents in Italy are facing, as over 7 million big babies, mostly men age 18-34 (that's THIRTY-FOUR, PEOPLE!), still live at home with Mom and Dad. Read More... Posted Jan 27 2008, 02:29 PM by Karen Murphy with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Italy, kids who never grow up, kids living at home, big babies, Ron Mueck

• Italian Chair Boosts Fertility

  This promise of a report about a fertility chair caught my eye. I was imagining some strange sex positioning device that boasts better than chance results for getting pregnant. Instead, I was directed to this video of a wooden chair in Naples, Italy. Couples who sit in the chair and receive a blessing get a little extra help in being fruitful and multiplying. Read More... Posted Dec 11 2007, 04:38 PM by Madeline Holler with | with no comments Filed under: Italy, furniture, fertility issues, catholic church, fertility watch, fertility treatments

• Teacher Suspended for Being a Porn Star

  Anna Cirani is a teacher in Italy. She's also "Madameweb", an internet porn star. (No offense to Cirani, but the porn star name I came up with playing those porn star name games was waaaay better. Just call me Bootsy Santa Ynez.) The Italian press just calls her the "porno-prof". Anyhow, school authorities recently decided that her two jobs were not compatible, and suspended her. She says, "My behavior at school has always been professional and irreproachable...I am a normal woman, with my family and my work as a teacher. I am (also) looking for transgression and sex." Now there's a sentiment I can get behind! She used to teach Italian lit at a secondary school, but when students covered the toilets with naked photos of her from the internet, she was transferred and taught evening classes to foreign adult students. Okay, I don't think she should have been suspended for her film career.... Read More... Posted Nov 27 2007, 08:03 AM by Kelly Mills with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: pornography, Italy, teacher, suspension, internet goodness, porno prof, porn star

• Jailed Mob Boss Makes Bambino Behind Bars

  Mama mia! An Italian mob boss has put a whole new twist on the meaning of “serving” and “hard time.” Though he’s been in prison for more than two decades, with no rights to conjugal visits, his wife of 20 some years gave birth recently to a baby girl. And it’s his! The mother, appropriately named ... Read More... Posted Nov 01 2007, 12:26 PM by Madeline Holler with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: crime, insemination, Italy, Madeline Holler, jail sentence, pregnancy and delivery

• Rights for Unmarried and Gay Couples Controversial In Italy Too

  When I read about European countries granting rights to gay couples, I start feeling like the U.S. stands out as a weirdly righteous nation of homophobes. But it looks like Italy has their share of gay rights controversy as well. Some people are all upset over proposed legislation that would grant rights to gay and unmarried couples. Demonstrators staged rallies in Rome to celebrate Family Day, by which they apparently mean "Hetero-Married-Mommy-Daddy" family. Protesters reportedly "listened to songs...whose words evoked the need for children to have both a mother and a father." Maybe something like this? "Kids need a mommy and a daddy to be happy/ Mommy should have a vagina, and daddy a penis/ they'd better be married/ otherwise God is really, really mad at us/ So don't be all liberal or we'll burn for eternity..." Thousands of folks who support the legislation mounted counter-rallies, which were attended by some politicians, including Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio of the Greens. Wow, the Greens are a real party there? One married woman with a family was interviewed, and "she says it is only fair that even if she did not have a husband she should be entitled to basic civil rights." Yeah, that is crazy talk. Here we like to keep our single parents down. The legislation doesn't actually legalize gay marriage (think civil union) but that hasn't stopped one very big religious leader from opposing it. Could it be... Benedict XVI who wants to defend the traditional family? Is the pope catholic?  Posted May 17 2007, 06:04 PM by Kelly Mills with | with no comments Filed under: families, European Union, homophobia, Italy, gay marriage

• Baby Fights For Life After Failed Abortion Attempt

  Picture this scenario:  You are pregnant.  You're told your baby may have some congenital "abnormalities", so you decide to have an abortion at 22 weeks gestation.  The procedure is somewhat botched, and because your baby shows signs of life afterward, hospital staff are obligated to perform resuscitation efforts.  After all that back and forth, no wonder the parents are described as being "in shock". More tidbits:  This is the same hospital that was in the news recently for having used organs in transpant procedures from an HIV-positive donor.  And:  testing was first performed on the fetus in question at 11 weeks, with results suggesting there were abnormalities.  Subsequent tests showed nothing.  Again, however, in the 20th week, tests showed that the baby had no stomach, leading doctors to suspect that it might have an oesophageal atresia or tracheoesophageal fistula - or both.  Both conditions can be corrected with surgery, successful in Italy in 75 - 80% of cases.  However:  a simple MRI would have proved once and for all whether this condition existed or not (it doesn't).  Instead, the mother was advised to have an abortion. Read More... Posted Mar 08 2007, 10:56 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: hospitals, babies, abortion, Italy, premature birth, bad medical advice

• Irate Italian Parents Beat Up Principal Over Bad Grades

  So...maybe it's something of a free-for-all in Italy's education system?  First teachers go postal, now it's parents.  A family of a middle-school student, including the father and the gradnfather of the student, beat up the school's principal in protest of recent low grades and a ban imposed on cell phones.  Yeah, those are a good reasons to send a guy to the hospital with contusions, isn't?  Principal Ugo Castorina has been running the school for 22 years; you think he's jonesing for early retirement about now? Posted Mar 05 2007, 07:07 AM by Karen Murphy with | with no comments Filed under: education, going postal, Italy, hitting, principal, bad grades

• Ouch! 3rd Heaviest Baby Ever Born in China

  Ginormo-baby was born in China this week, weighing 13.75 pounds, and is thought to be the heaviest baby born in China since the Communist takeover in 1949, and is the 3rd heaviest baby born anywhere in recent history.  My, oh my.  And I thought it was hard birthing my tiny-by-comparison 6-something pounders.  Ouch!  Typically such heavy babies can be due to excessive prenatal weight gain in the mother or diabetes, and although the former athlete and new mom is built like a linebacker at 264 pounds, there's no family history of diabetes.  So you're asking yourself about now, well if this is the 3rd-heaviest baby born in recent history, what about #2 and especially what about #1?  The most recent heaviest baby was born in Brazil in January 2005, weighing 7.6kg., which is 16.72 pounds.  And the #1 heaviest baby, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was born in Italy in 1955, and weighed 10.2kg.  That's 22.44 pounds.   Everybody, all together now:  "OUCH!"  Posted Mar 04 2007, 03:37 PM by Karen Murphy with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: China, babies, Italy, Brazil, ouch, world records, heavy babies, OMG

• Judge's Orders: 13 Year Old must Abort Baby

  Everything about this story sucks. A 13-year-old got pregnant. That is sad. Her boyfriend was 15. Her parents didn't want her to have the baby, but she wanted to keep it, also very sad. Even worse, a judge ordered her to have an abortion. The girl is from Torino, Italy and in Italy a minor cannot make a decision to about a fetus, so that power is given to the girls parents. First of all, I am shocked that abortion is even legal in such a predominantly Catholic country. I was so surprised that I actually looked it up, but it is true. Second, I've never before heard of anyone ordering an abortion. I am 100% pro-choice, but I mean pro-choice. I don't think anyone should be telling anyone else that they must have an abortion, particularly not the government. That is just a little bit too totalitarian for my taste. Oh yeah, and after the abortion, the little girl completely freaked out and threatened to kill herself. Something is very wrong with that system.  Posted Feb 18 2007, 12:13 PM by Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: pregnancy, abortion, teen pregnancy, Italy