Front Page

Italy’s centre-left Democratic party (PD) is struggling to forge alliances in the run-up to Italy’s election, a situation that could narrow its path to victory with polls predicting a tight contest in March.

The party, led by former prime minister Matteo Renzi, hopes to maintain its grip on government but is heading into the campaign hampered by dwindling poll numbers and a damaging rift with leftwing dissidents who formed a rival party last year.

Researchers at New York’s Columbia University, led by Italians Antonio Iavarone and Anna Lasorella, have discovered that genetic alteration is at the root of many forms of cancer, and have found the drugs to fight them.

In three months, the country will vote in a general election that’s likely to unsettle the Eurozone and bondholders.

Last Sunday, as most Europeans were off for the Christmas holidays and making last-minute social plans for the New Year’s Eve celebrations, Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella was attending to the functions of his largely ceremonial post.

In a plot worthy of a Hollywood heist caper, thieves mingled in with other visitors to an exhibition in Venice on Wednesday before brazenly making off with gems worth millions of euros.

The working theory being developed by investigating officers suggests that at least two people entered the Doge's Palace -- a popular tourist spot in the canal city where a selection of Indian jewelry from the Qatari royal collection was on display to the public, Reuters reported.