The Italian authorities have seized nearly $2 billion worth of suspected mafia assets in what officials called “the biggest ever
haul
of its kind”. They belong to a Sicilian businessman, Vito Nicastri, who’s accused of links to the
notorious
Cosa Nostra mafia group. From Rome, here’s Duncan Kennedy.
The man, who police have named as Vito Nicastri, is a 54-year-old entrepreneur. Investigators say they’ve seized assets belonging to Mr Nicastri worth $1.9 billion. The assets include more than 40 companies, hundreds of acres of land in Sicily and elsewhere, luxury villas and cars, and a 14-metre catamaran. Italy’s Interior Minister Roberto Maroni described it as “the largest ever seizure of mafia assets”.
The wife of one of the miners trapped underground in Chile has given birth to a baby girl. Her husband, Ariel Ticona, has asked his wife to name the girl Esperanza - Spanish for “hope”. Gideon Long sent this report.
Elizabeth Segovia gave birth to baby Esperanza shortly after midday on Tuesday. Doctors say the child weighed 3 kilos and measured 48 centimetres long, and that both mother and baby were doing well. The
footage
of the birth will be sent down to Ms Segovia’s husband, Ariel Ticona, who is now being trapped with another 32 miners for 40 days ever since a rock collapse at the San Jose mine. The couple had planned to call their daughter Carolina, but changed the name to Esperanza.