we carried out an important sterilization intervention free of charge for a feral cat colony in Castel Volturno as part of our “Too Many Puppies” program This initiative aims to take targeted action in the area in order to reduce the number of stray animals in an ethical and effective manner improving the quality of life for cats and encouraging a more peaceful coexistence within the community we trained volunteers in the humane capture and release of the cats While some local residents were taking care of the colony which was causing their numbers to grow and was leading to higher risks of diseases and ongong conflicts with those living nearby the Rifugio Del Cane San Francesco shelter we were able to carry out the intervention swiftly using the appropriate equipment ensuring the safety and effectiveness of the mission Despite the challenging weather conditions which made the capture process more difficult we were able to treat approximately half of the colony The cats were sterilized at the Rifugio’s veterinary center where surgeries are performed to the highest standards which are crucial for stabilizing the colonies and ensuring their good health upon release Our approach is based on the TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) method a responsible and effective way to stabilize urban feral cat colonies ensuring their well-being while respecting respecting their wild nature Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed one of Africa’s best known voices and a lifelong champion of the fight against apartheid died of a heart attack after a performance Sunday in Italy “This is one of the great gifts that Coltrane gave us — he gave us a key to the cosmos in this recording,” says John McLaughlin In his original liner notes to A Love Supreme The Blue Note Jazz Festival New York kicks off May 27 with a James Moody 100th Birthday Celebration at Sony Hall Blue Note Entertainment Group has unveiled the lineup for the 14th annual Blue Note Jazz Festival New York “I’m certainly influenced by Geri Allen,” said Iverson during a live Blindfold Test at the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival Ethan Iverson performed as part of the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival in… we’re left with similarities,” Collier says “Cultural differences are mitigated through 12 notes.” DownBeat has a long association with the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference but it’s still kind of productive in a way because you have something that you can be inspired by,” Andy Bey said on a 2019 episode of NPR Jazz Night in America who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing… About|Terms of Use|PrivacyCopyright © 2025 Maher Publications DownBeat is an internationally registered trademark of Maher Publications secretariat@globalinitiative.net Avenue de France 23 – Geneva, CH-1202 – Switzerland Research Analyst for the Organised Crime and Policing Team (OCP) at RUSI Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas Head of International Serious and Organised Crime Environmental Crime and Illicit Finance at the FACT Coalition Director Security Program at Center for the Study of Democracy Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime secretariat@globalinitiative.net Avenue de France 23 – Geneva, CH-1202 – Switzerland Design e Creative Coding by Café Nuoveradici.world I was born in Castel Volturno in 1999 to a Nigerian mother but grew up in a Neapolitan family who I was given to a few days after birth A student in Digital Cultures and Communication at the Federico II University of Naples I have always been interested in the issues of discrimination At sixteen I started publishing my three novels for Rizzoli OVER 2 (2016) and #TBT Indietro non si torna (2017) I decided later to stop writing young adult novels and to try my hand at a more realistic and autobiographical writing which can give a voice to Italian children born to foreign parents but who are not recognized as such I was born in Castel Volturno at the end of the 90s as if from that year to today nothing good could come out of that place: not even life itself I was born and raised in a country that was born before me which I cultivated and loved all my life until it was revealed to me that it did not belong to me To be born in Italy and let Italy be born in you I spent most of my life moving between Castel Volturno and Naples where my maternal grandparents live; maternal from my white Italian mother who took me with her and loved me since I was a child I was born with black skin in a mainly white environment from my younger cousin to my farthest uncle It is as a child that I enjoyed my full innocence and the innocence of the world around me: it is easy to feel equal to others when no one tells you that you are different that same innocence began to sully because you see yourself reflected in the eyes of others I lived with my grandmother and that’s where I started to understand what it meant to have black skin The teachers who asked me if I preferred the term “black” or “coloured” or even “neg*o” It’s easy to think that there was nothing wrong with that question It was the first time someone openly asked me if I wanted to be called “neg*o,” and I didn’t even know why that word hurt me so much they always threw it on me like freezing water when it’s already cold outside Between one occasion of total alienation to another I found an answer to all the questions that I did not know I was asking the world writing; almost by accident because I wasn’t looking for it or at least I didn’t know I was looking for something that could make me feel somehow real and at peace with myself I wanted to be at the center of the stories I wrote even though I was aware that I had never been the protagonist of my own life I felt the need to tell something that did not hurt the ending had to be the most beautiful and everyone had to find love I began writing and publishing my novels online under the pseudonym Sabrynex My novels were set in the United States or the United Kingdom It was important to me that the words were mine but that the story had nothing to do with me and my truths My books and I didn’t even have the same fears The protagonists of my three novels are divided into small things: they are blondes The only thing that unites them is that they all have a privilege that I myself did not know I was giving them: the color of their skin white as everything I am not and never will be – luckily or not I would only discover it in the years to come after publication Writing novels that have nothing to do with the author is nothing new but what I have analyzed in recent years is that I never tried to describe something that could be different My stories told of love between young people and all sorts of dramas on which my imagination could safely indulge Stories and situations that I have never experienced: I did not even know what love was while describing a kiss I realize that I have always avoided what was the most important Rizzoli asked me to publish my first novel OVER when I was still only fifteen years old with a whole universe to waiting to be discovered and behind those lines was just the name Sabrynex that had managed to get four million readings on a literary community where anyone could write anything that went through their heads and free themselves through writing I arrived in Milan to meet my publisher with my two mothers a white one who gives life to me every day I was entrusted to an Italian banking family when I was only eleven days old My editor was faced with all those colors and sensed that there was a bigger story to tell but he also understood that it was not yet the right time to do it My last novel for Rizzoli was #TBT Indietro non si torna – published in June 2017 – which put a momentary end to my path as an author I addressed the theme of the abandonment of a mother even if in my case it was lived in a slightly less common way it was important for me to open a window on the pain and responsibilities that you have once you are an adult I decided to stop with writing because when you are too young and you see yourself invested with so many responsibilities Writing has helped me to understand who I am books and writers have taught me that you are not alone and that feeling like a stranger is the same for everyone but that’s not why it’s normal and that’s okay and staying silent is never the right decision: whatever you come from which speaks of my eighteen-year-old mother’s journey from Nigeria to Italy my wounds and all the people born in this country who have seen a flower that belonged to them torn away IBAN: IT80I0303201602010000164262 CARTA DI CREDITO Inaugurated the working tables that will make up the Participatory Planning Laboratory of the Masterplan of the Domitio-Flegreo Coast The document containing strategies for the territorial environmental and social regeneration of the area between the municipalities of Bacoli Sessa Aurunca and Villa Literno is entering a new phase To celebrate the beginning of the participatory planning workshop experience the Campania Region has chosen the Castel Volturno Centre for Aggregation and Legality which has started its activities precisely in conjunction with this occasion inaugurating the spaces created by the Ministry of the Interior A symbolic place that will also host the headquarters of the Ente Riserve Volturno together with the mayor of Castel Volturno had to open the inaugural conference of the laboratories that will be composed of representatives of the world of Research Representatives of the constituting tables took part in the event: Michelangelo Russo Director of the Department of Architecture of the University of Naples The tables throughout the month of October supported by the offices of the Department of Urban Planning and the Government of the Territory and Unitary Planning of the Campania Region will meet at the operational headquarters of Castel Volturno needs and aspirations for development of local communities while improving knowledge and participation in decision-making processes on urban policies in progress The indications from the tables will contribute to the definition of the Integrated Enhancement Programme which is part of one of the macro-areas of the drafting of the Regional Landscape Plan A result that seals about two years of intense work and study during which the Campania Region has defined the guidelines and built a climate of trust between the institutions and the socio-entrepreneurial tissues of the municipalities concerned collecting projects for about half a billion euros This work was commented on by the President of the Campania Region who constantly followed the evolution of the Masterplan and wanted to be present at the presentation of the second phase The president spoke of the development vision of the Campania Region based on scrupulous checks and analysis as well as on a good dose of courage and constancy This strategy is based on three main strategic lines: the redevelopment and enhancement of the ecological and landscape-environmental system the enhancement of the historical-cultural and agricultural system and the development of sustainable and integrated mobility which will also transform the more than 70 km of coast into a great sustainable tourist attraction A political effort to create the conditions to support healthy entrepreneurship with stable employment An urban and social transformation plan that is based on shared and verifiable priorities A methodology that President De Luca intends to replicate for the Vesuvius area and the southern area of Salerno According to Regional Councillor for Urban Planning Bruno Discepolo product and process innovation is taking place in the Domitia-Fegrea area In a place where the contrast between degradation and development potential is more evident and jarring all the tools have been put in place to define strategies to promote territorial The Campania Region has entrusted the drafting of a preliminary draft to a professional grouping led by the ‘Land Italia’ study on which the tables are now called upon to give their contribution At the end of the action of the tables in collaboration with the Socio-Economic Partnership of the Campania Region the Integrated Programme for the Enhancement of the Domitio-Flegreo Coast will be defined and at that point the Masterplan will enter its third phase ted.adventist.org/news is a website of the Seventh-day Adventist church in the TED Region Seventh-day Adventists are devoted to helping people understand the Bible to find freedom Italy [Victor Hulbert / tedNEWS / EUDnews] Jean* faced a stark choice Take over leadership of her father’s animist faith or face deadly consequences Her only choice was to leave not just her community There she was safe and that is where she planned to stay – until civil war started and the regime fell The deadly peril of the Mediterranean was her only hope Patrick also left his village in fear of his life little did he realise how treacherous the road would be that would take him across deserts and mountains He saw his friend die of dehydration by the roadside He was not the only one to die on that journey Ray shared how people smugglers dumped his group in the middle of the desert They had to walk with neither food or water.Ruth had to leave home after her husband ran off with another woman She could not support her two children and her mother Pregnant and terrified she travelled north by lorry but praised God that even though she spent four months in a Libyan prison she escaped the worst of the harm but with the help of friends she eventually made it onto a boat and was rescued by the Italian coast guard that in desperate circumstances people are forced to make extraordinary choices They are not looking for the promised land in Europe The sadness about Global Refugee Sabbath 2017 is that the refugees are still with us While the news broadcasts may have moved to other topics trying to make the best out of a desperate situation As was emphasised during Sabbath morning worship livestreamed from a largely refugee church in southern Italy “Today’s business-person can rapidly become tomorrow’s refugee.” The church is in Castel Volturno a deprived and crime ridden town some 35 km (21 miles) northwest of Naples Seventh-day Adventist members welcome migrants who have made the dangerous crossing from Libya to Italy and who are now trying to build a future safe from the horrors they have left behind Pastor David Malaguarnera and a small group of caring members share their love with about 70 asylum seekers who have settled in the area many working as casual labourers in the fields and local factories others finding cleaning jobs or anything that will give them a small income and an ADRA Italy co-sponsored agricultural project provides some training and employment ADRA Italy even runs a much needed mini-bus service to get the refugees to work in a town so poor that the bus service has been cancelled The minibus is as poor as the town itself and constantly breaks down Refugee stories were told during the live streamed services a concert and a series of heart-wrenching interviews for World Refugee Sabbath The live stream also included reports from Adventist Help in Mosul and from the refugee camps of northern France together with other groups that are helping throughout Europe like Slovakia Most of the migrants in Castel Volturno are from sub-Saharan Africa Some were already Adventists before they arrived were befriended after arriving in Castel Volturno Still often exploited as casual labourers and living in squalid accommodation scrimping to find money for Sabbath clothes or getting up at 5 am to scour the streets to find clothes discarded by party goers the night before They sing and they continuously rejoice that even in difficult circumstances Other Christian Churches in the town are also providing support He had moved from a rural farm in Ghana that was not large enough to support his family He moved to Libya and worked successfully in construction Life was better for him and he was sending money home to his family He too was hit by the civil war and the consequent breakdown of law and order Teens picked on him wielding planks of wood with nails hammered through them But for the intervention of a brave Libyan man Fully aware of the danger of the old wooden boats that smugglers cram with human cargo often at gunpoint and then set adrift at sea The first time he was at sea for 5 days with no food or water drifted back to the Libyan shore and broke up on the beach During that time his fellow passengers called him ‘padre’ as he would pray with them and encourage them with hope Today he works on a part-ADRA Italy sponsored agricultural project learning both farming skills and people management His family are still in Ghana and he works hard to send money home to support them Camera-men, journalists and the entire Global Refugee day volunteer team from ADRA Italia the Trans-European and Inter-European Divisions and Radio Voce della Speranza – Rome often found themselves near tears as they listened to the stories but also felt the warmth and hope in the hearts of the members originally from Fijtransferred from the Naples church to Castel Volturno to help with translation Her heart opened and she fell in love with the refugees “in this church there is no skin colour or prejudice we are family.” That was a thought Pastor David Malaguarnera emphasised in his sermon noting Paul’s words that in Jesus Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek bond for free.” For those who had found themselves in forced labour Inter-European Division Communication director who took a primary lead in organising Global Refugee Day 2017 “We can create this contact today with the rest of the world and say ‘we are with you we pray that the Lord could recover your deep wounds made by the challenges you had had to escape from the tragedy of your life” found himself spontaneously cuddling babies expressing the hope that these children now have a future Brimming with enthusiasm is seeking ways to do more for the migrants in this area and other parts of Italy In addition to the great need to replace the local minibus he wants to expand the project and is equally encouraging other churches in Italy to open their doors and hearts to the migrant community This includes theology students at Villa Aurora who are giving football training and companionship to a group of under-sixteen migrant boys housed in a nearby hostel But his plea goes far beyond Italy and the once a year event of a refugee day His plea goes to the heart of Christianity and Total Member Involvement – noting both the compassion of Jesus for the dispossessed and the way that people in transition are often more open to the Gospel especially when that gospel is expressed in practical ways There will be another refugee day next year *Names have been changed to protect privacy tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, editor; Esti Pujic, associate editor119 St Peter’s Street, St Albans, Herts, AL1 3EY, EnglandE-mail: [email protected] Website: www.ted.adventist.orgtedNEWS is an information bulletin issued by the communication department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European Division ted.adventist.org/news is the official news website of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists © 2025 Trans-European Division of Seventh-day Adventists Animals 24-7 May 24, 2020 By Castel Volturno in 1865 (top) and at present (bottom) Italy––The deadly global COVID-19 pandemic might if anything have made Castel Volturno the unlikely spay/neuter hub of the nation Certainly stay-at-home orders seem to have at least temporarily reduced the mob violence for which the 2,500-year-old city is known German immigrant veterinarian Dorothea Fritz who founded the Castel Volturno-based Lega Pro Animale Sterilization Centre for Dogs & Cats in 1986 is back to sterilizing dogs and cats amid conditions which at the best of times resemble a war zone “The virus struck hardest in Italy’s prosperous industrial north  where the first homegrown case was registered on February 21 2020 and where most of the infected and dead were recorded,”  summarized Associated Press reporter Trisha Thomas on May 2 “Castel Volturno is another world entirely,”  Thomas wrote  “a 17-mile strip of land running along the sea,” about 30 miles north of Naples “that is controlled by the Camorra organized crime syndicate,”  though in recent years challenged by an immigrant “Nigerian mafia.” “there have only been about a dozen COVID cases  and none among the [African] migrants,”  or at least none known to the Italian authorities from many African nations but reputedly mostly from Ethiopia form an illegal but long-established community  variously estimated as from 10,000 to 20,000 people who have over the past 20 years or thereabouts crowded into a failed planned residential and commercial development called Destra Volturno Billed as a high-end destination resort city by the original mob-connected developers Destra Volturno was sabotaged when other organized crime factions used the site for refuse disposal “Known as the ‘Terra dei Fuochi or land of fires,”  according to Thomas  “Castel Volturno and surrounding areas have unusually high cancer rates  blamed on illegal dumping and burning of toxic waste that pollute the air Wrote Voice of America reporter Jamie Detmer in August 2017 “Now Castel Volturno is one of Italy’s ground-zeros when it comes to a migration crisis roiling Italian politics That was before COVID-19 heavily taxed the resources of the rest of the country “Italians increasingly are infuriated by the influx of mainly economic migrants from sub-Saharan African countries — an increasing number coming the past two years from Nigeria “Castel Volturno isn’t an actual no-go area for law enforcement,”  Detmer observed  “but it is a municipality police prefer to oversee gingerly,”  as “the scene of an infamous 2008 Camorra massacre of seven African migrants,”  shot at random to “send a message to Nigerian drug-runners and pimps.” Animal life tends to be no more highly valued pit bulls kept as rather ineffectual watchdogs have proliferated along with the street dogs and feral cats who have always haunted Castel Volturno Pit bull attacks in Castel Volturno that nearly killed a four-year-old child in May 2015 and an adult man in March 2019 made nationwide headlines Both pit bulls were reportedly family watchdogs Many other pit bull attacks are believed to have occurred without being reported lest the victims and their families be deported Italy is among the world leaders in numbers of dogs and cats fed per household but this is in part because sterilizing dogs and cats has never been a priority for much of the country Spay/neuter projects surviving and thriving tend to be in the affluent north focused on street dogs and feral cats in and around tourist locations such as the ruins of ancient Rome and the historic churches and Renaissance-era palaces turned museums of Turin   another notoriously difficult venue for spay/neuter advocates There Fritz visited and was appalled by what was then a typical Italian animal shelter “in which more than 450 living skeletons suffered The dogs all lived together,”  Fritiz recalls  “Many were sick and reproduced uncontrolled.” The Lega Pro Animale also promotes humane education Dorothea Fritz is third from right.(Facebook photo) Fritz founded the Lega Pro Animale Sterilization Centre for Dogs & Cats gradually building the practice––and regional acceptance of spay/neuter procedures––despite sometimes violent opposition from mob-connected private kennel operators who took over and made an industry of collecting government subsidies for housing homeless dogs and cats after Italy in 1991 banned killing animals for population control The Lega Pro Animale Sterilization Centre for Dogs & Cats was briefly closed circa 2000 due to legal action brought by private kennel operators it did not close again until the COVID-19 pandemic forced the recently ended suspension of services 2020 closed all “non-essential” businesses including animal shelters and spay/neuter clinics in the northern part of the country:   Lombardy A day later the lockdown was extended nationwide “On May 4 our center opened again to start immediately with our so important work of birth control,”  Fritz wrote to supporters “People in Italy have never been prohibited from bringing their pets to a veterinarian for emergencies,”  Fritz explained “Stray animals and animals in shelters have been regularly cared for.” But rules requiring social distancing and wearing gloves and masks “turned into a big problem at our center,”  Fritz said “On average 25 to 30 customers and caretakers come every day from all provinces in Campania,”  the surrounding region of about 5.8 million people  “to have dogs and cats examined or to get them spayed/neutered  These are of course the ideal conditions for spreading the [COVID-19] virus Our veterinarians were especially exposed to contagion:  a dog on the table the owner nose to nose with a veterinarian In this case even protective masks do not help 100%.” Lega Pro Animale Sterilization Centre for Dogs & Cats.(Facebook photo) “Everyone was prohibited from leaving his/her own municipality Police decided arbitrarily during road checks whether a visit to a veterinarian was an emergency Spaying/neutering was not considered an emergency by the Minister of Health  and even public vets responsible for doing birth control of stray animals put their scalpels down Our customers were often stopped from picking up their animals [post-surgery] In this case we delivered the animals to them we had already made hundreds of appointments for surgeries but we had to defer them to an indefinite time “we are calling all people whose appointment had been cancelled in March They receive by email all documents required for the surgery  plus a certificate for police controls stating that they are on their way to our center to deliver their animals or pick them up Every 20 minutes one or more animals come People are not allowed to enter the clinic:  they have to deliver their animals outside the door where they can collect them in the afternoon at intervals of 10 minutes Our concierge stays at the closed gate with the list of names and lets no other people in.” Headquartered only a two-to-three-hour drive north  whose name translates literally as “National Entity for the Protection of Animals,”  adopted similar procedures for the 64 shelters it operates  we are receiving many messages of solidarity,”  ENPA acknowledged via Facebook or for owned animals,”  whose caretakers “are unfortunately going through a time of economic emergency” due to the shutdown “We are trying to help everyone,”  ENPA said  and we don’t want to abandon anyone!” ENPA listed as priority activities supplying pet food wherever needed transporting “animals of individuals needing emergency veterinary care,”  and arranging “animal transport for adoption in Rome and the provinces.”  the Lega Anti Vivisezione (Anti-Vivisection League) and the bat advocacy organization Protela Pibats have also appealed to Italian environment minister Sergio Costa “to intervene publicly in defense of bats,”  in response to “numerous inaccuracies and fake news spread by the media  describing bats as species dangerous for spreading COVID-19  generating unjustified alarmism even toward protected Italian species.” The three organizations  “asked minister Costa  as the guardian of the biodiversity heritage of our country  to spread the correct message that Italian bats are formidable eaters of mosquitoes and other insects  and who need to be defended because of the important biological role they play in nature ENPA since 2007 has been headed by Carla Rocchi who previously headed the Rome chapter of ENPA and is only the second female president of the organization  a British-born close associate of Giuseppe Garibaldi  then called the Animal Protection Society About two dozen other Italian animal charities formed during the next 66 years Legislation pushed by the dictator Benito Mussolini forcibly merged them all into the Animal Protection Society in 1938 The former Animal Protection Society was reincorporated under the present name like the Lega Pro Animale Sterilization Centre for Dogs & Cats fourteen years after the late American SPCA president Roger Caras issued a tongue-in-cheek appeal to U.S Mafioso to leave their estates to animal welfare  ENPA was judicially awarded a small farm near Palermo for use in teaching humane and moral education  and natural silk by methods that do not harm the insects Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email CASTEL VOLTURNO, Italy (AP) — Mamadou Kouassi’s searing, epic journey over African deserts, through illegal prisons and across the Mediterranean Sea in a smugglers’ boat informed Italian director Matteo Garrone’s Oscar-nominated film “Io Capitano.” Some episodes that the Ivorian migrant witnessed on his three-year odyssey were too strong to make the final cut Garrone’s film, which is nominated in the best international feature film category, traces the journey of two teenage boys who follow the migrant route from Senegal across the Niger desert to Libya, where they board a rusty smugglers’ boat packed with migrants Smugglers force one of the teenagers to “captain” the boat because as a minor he won’t be jailed in Italy who completed his journey in 2008 and advised Garrone on the film provided horrific details of torture that contribute to the film’s powerful message including prisoners being burned and beaten as well as his experience as a slave laborer working as a mason on the desert villa of a wealthy Libyan including repeated rapes of women by traffickers along the route or scenes of migrants who can’t provide family contacts for traffickers to extort being driven back to the desert and left to die “Matteo removed it because we want the film to reach a wide audience,’’ Kouassi explained Garrone’s previous films include the 2008 organized crime drama “Gomorrah,” and the 2019 fantasy “Pinocchio” starring Roberto Benigni The Italian director cast two Senegalese high school students Sarr won the Marcello Mastroianni prize for best emerging actor at the Venice Film Festival In the film, the boys are lured to Europe by a dream of becoming singers fueled by TikTok videos the actors had little knowledge of the horrors of the migrant route before they began filming in their native Senegal “Matteo made this movie to let you see what happens in fact the reality of what we (Africans) suffer to come to Europe,” Sarr said Sarr and Fall’s lives have been overturned by the sudden success of the film and have been splitting their time since filming between Garrone’s mother’s beach house near Rome and touring cities promoting “Io Capitano.” Both nurture dreams of continuing in acting and Sarr hopes to become a soccer star has continued his work as a cultural mediator in the city of Castel Volturno helping immigrants get work papers and health care He already has a sequel in mind: his life after arriving in Italy where he was among the legions of young Africans exploited working 10-hour days picking tomatoes and oranges for as little as 10 euros a day His dream is that “Io Capitano” will influence migrant policy around the globe by focusing public attention on the often untold-horrors He notes the attention placed on the thousands of people who die crossing the central Mediterranean each year while no one knows how many people die in the deserts nobody knows how many people are dying inside,″ he said the two young actors and the director are currently in the United States promoting “Io Capitano” in its Oscar campaign he said audience members were moved by the movie’s depiction of migrants’ hardships many walking away with the determination that “something must be done.” ‘Io Capitano,’ should be one of the powerful instruments for governments to change the policy of migration,” Kouassi said Kouassi has been invited to schools in Italy to talk to students after screening the film “I have to be the voice of people because if nobody starts to let people understand what we face before coming to Europe people would think that we just take the boat and we enter Europe,” Kouassi said “So for me it was important to explain the beginning.” getting the message out is worth more than any industry award Follow AP’s global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration A Canadian man arrested on vacation has been proven innocent Melissa Nakhavoly with why he is still being held in the Dominican Republic Warmer temperatures but showers are expected on-and-off for the next few days Meteorologist Natasha Ramsahai has your seven-day forecast Ontario Premier Doug Ford calls on Prime Minister Mark Carney to prioritize a list of projects including the proposed Highway 401 tunnel a mentally ill man who was killed in an Ontario prison is calling out the provincial government over the lack of correctional reform listen to NewsRadio Toronto live anytime and get up-to-the-minute breaking-news alerts weather and video from CityNews Toronto anywhere you are – across all Android and iOS devices our partner with the TOO MANY PUPPIES program in Castel Volturno has been taking excellent care of him for several years and together they have created a daily routine that suits him down to the ground Lying back and basking in the sun’s rays as you can see him doing in this photo is one of his favorite things Schizzo (or ‘Sketch’ in English) arrived at the refuge when he was only four months old a very serious disease that mostly affects puppies and can very often lead to premature death his health was badly compromised and he developed a series of neural problems that Together they created a reassuring daily routine that has become all-important to Schizzo He waits for the same person to come to him every morning to give him his medication feed him and let him outside to run around and stretch his legs he does not sleep in a kennel like the other dogs – who are usually only there on a temporary basis – but is free to roam wherever he wants sleeping in a heated room with the other older residents he takes himself over to lie down in that cozy corner you can see in the photo and soak up the warm rays on his white muzzle You could practically set your clock by him South Africa – She died just how she wanted to: singing on stage for a good cause And her recorded songs wafted out of taxis and radios as fellow Africans struggled with their grief at her passing the “Mama Africa” whose sultry voice gave South Africans hope when the country was gripped by apartheid died Monday of a heart attack after collapsing on stage in Italy Makeba performed with musical legends from around the world – jazz maestros Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie Paul Simon – and sang for world leaders such as John F managed to get her banned from South Africa for more than 30 years “Her haunting melodies gave voice to the pain of exile and dislocation which she felt for 31 long years her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us,” Mandela said in a statement He said it was “fitting” that her last moments were spent on stage Makeba collapsed after singing one of her most famous hits was with her as well as her longtime friend “Whilst this great lady was alive she would say: ‘I will sing until the last day of my life,’ ” the family statement said Makeba died at the Pineta Grande clinic in Castel Volturno after singing at a concert in solidarity with six immigrants from Ghana who were shot to death in September Investigators have blamed the attack on organized crime The death of “Mama Africa” sent shock waves through South Africa where callers flooded local radio stations with their recollections of her where Makeba lived most of her decades in exile radio and television stations played mournful music and tributes to their adopted icon a cosmopolitan neighborhood of Johannesburg that was a cultural hotspot in the 1950s before its black residents were forcibly removed by the apartheid government Special Committee on Apartheid to call for an international boycott of South Africa The white-led South African government responded by banning her records Makeba was invited back to South Africa by Mandela shortly after his release from prison in 1990 as white racist rule crumbled “It was like a revival,” she said about going home that people still felt the same way about me was too much for me Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below Gifts processed in this system are tax deductible Get breaking news delivered to your inbox as it happens © Copyright 2025, The Spokesman-Review | Community Guidelines | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time With its picturesque squalor and broken lives has drawn the attention of successive Italian filmmakers and a large population of African immigrants and refugees Roman-born director Matteo Garrone has set three films among the town’s bleak shores contains all the beauty and ugliness of the world.'' Following in his wake is Neapolitan director Edoardo De Angelis about conjoined twins whose family profits from their disability about a local woman embroiled in the trafficking of infants born to immigrant sex workers It’s a brave director who ventures on to the turf made famous by another but De Angelis does not fear comparisons to the multi award-winning Garrone no,’’ De Angelis says calmly by phone from Naples ‘‘The way in which I see that land is very different to the way in which Matteo – who is a great artist – sees it it’s also nice to have a continuity of artistic expression I like it that my films have a connection to the films of an author who comes from the generation before mine It reminds me that we are all in some way connected to each other and that we represent the passage of time.’’ De Angelis takes a deep breath when asked why Castel Volturno holds such a strong fascination for Italian filmmakers ‘‘Castel Volturno,’’ he says after a pause ‘‘is a place where one can feel in the strongest of ways the presence of the primordial elements of nature: water So it’s a place that contains all the beauty and ugliness of the world.’’ De Angelis revels in that beauty and ugliness the town is lit up like a derelict fairground Fairy lights dangle from windows and drape across balconies They blink in the winter drizzle and reflect in muddy puddles on the town’s pocked paths and roads Locals toast themselves by fires roaring in rusty steel drums Sex workers scramble across beaches strewn with litter and industrial wreckage This hellish landscape is the home and workplace of Maria (played by De Angelis’ wife a young woman trapped in a cycle of poverty and crime is rounding up pregnant co-workers and ferrying them across the Volturno River under cover of darkness to a dingy cabin controlled by the severe Marcolina (Imma Mauriello) In this ghastly environment the sex workers give birth their babies whisked off to women who have paid for the privilege of having a child The allusion is patent: Maria is a present-day Charon carrying her doomed passengers to an underworld that bargains in women’s lives At least she has not inherited a taste for heroin the predilection of her constantly stoned mother and sister who runs the child trafficking racket with a bejewelled iron hand Where Garrone’s films have centred on men’s lives in this harsh twilight world De Angelis concentrates on the women who endure it Escape seems fanciful; Castel Volturno’s women are shackled to their rotten lot in life ‘‘hope is a kind of vice that nobody ever manages to rid themselves of completely’’ is Maria’s greatest vice – vizio in Italian – a word that contains in it too the idea of being spoilt or indulged Maria indulges her desire for a better path A twist of fate motivates her to challenge her situation whose starkly realist films leave little room for hope in which a ravaged girl in a ruffled white dress appears to be floating in the river and is saved by a fisherman who steers his boat beneath her plucking her limp body from the fishing nets in which she lies trapped A ravaged girl is rescued from the river in the opening scenes of The Vice of Hope ‘‘I like to think of this film as a prayer,’’ he says ‘‘the prayer as an act made by a human being in the moment that he recognises his own limits Praying means to turn oneself towards someone or something that is beyond one’s own limits.’’ I’m surprised that De Angelis was prompted to make the film not as a reaction to Italy’s ongoing struggle to deal with the many migrants that reach its shores which is in essence the promise of new life ‘‘I wanted to tell the simplest story possible,’’ he says ‘‘and that is the story of the human being that is born.’’ I wonder whether the birth of his and Turco’s first child ‘‘My life story is intertwined with the stories I tell … but it’s only a point of departure … I try to understand the universal elements that are present in my story or in the stories of those who I meet on my way that are about individuals but also all of humanity.’’ The Vice of Hope is based on research De Angelis carried out at Castel Volturno ‘‘I spent a lot of time meeting real people and I conducted many interviews,’’ he says ‘‘I met girls who had freed themselves from these conditions of slavery And I also spent a lot of time on this land with the Comboni Friars who help to recuperate these girls,’’ he says I’m very interested in understanding what lies within human beings Finding that he had collected more stories than he could convey in his film De Angelis simultaneously released a book of the same name feeling strongly that the women’s stories needed to be told Edoardo De Angelis' The Vice of Hope explores the exploitation of migrant sex workers in Italy De Angelis described Castel Volturno as a mirror of Italy today I ask him to elaborate and he explains that the town is both melting pot and powder keg ‘‘They find themselves in this hub of desperation and try to find a new path in which Italians and non-European immigrants live side by side and this embodies the conflict that Italy is experiencing today nationally it’s a little as if everything that happens today in Italy in a diluted way happens in Castel Volturno within a few kilometres.” De Angelis expresses a distaste for the inflammatory politics of the day stirred up in particular by Interior Minister Matteo Salvini who has ridden to popularity on a tough anti-migrant stance ‘‘I am deeply angry with this government which is bringing us to point of perilous rupture,’’ De Angelis says ‘‘It’s raising the level of social tension in a way that is completely irresponsible and the consequences could be very grave.’’ But in the tumultuous world of Italian politics Salvini’s ploy for ultimate power backfires promising a softening of attitudes towards migration and a pro-European stance But Salvini keeps posturing from the sidelines assuring his supporters on Twitter that ‘‘in the end we will win’’ entertaining hope can indeed feel like an indulgence The Vice of Hope screens as part of the Lavazza Italian Film Festival in Sydney Roman-born director Matteo Garrone has set three films among the town\\u2019s bleak shores most notably 2008\\u2019s chilling Gomorrah It\\u2019s a brave director who ventures on to the turf made famous by another no,\\u2019\\u2019 De Angelis says calmly by phone from Naples \\u2018\\u2018The way in which I see that land is very different to the way in which Matteo \\u2013 who is a great artist \\u2013 sees it it\\u2019s also nice to have a continuity of artistic expression It reminds me that we are all in some way connected to each other and that we represent the passage of time.\\u2019\\u2019 De Angelis takes a deep breath when asked why Castel Volturno holds such a strong fascination for Italian filmmakers.\\u00A0\\u2018\\u2018Castel Volturno,\\u2019\\u2019 he says after a pause \\u2018\\u2018is a place where one can feel in the strongest of ways the presence of the primordial elements of nature: water So it\\u2019s a place that contains all the beauty and ugliness of the world.\\u2019\\u2019 They blink in the winter drizzle and reflect in muddy puddles on the town\\u2019s pocked paths and roads This hellish landscape is the home and workplace of Maria (played by De Angelis\\u2019 wife carrying her doomed passengers to an underworld that bargains in women\\u2019s lives Where Garrone\\u2019s films have centred on men\\u2019s lives in this harsh twilight world women\\u2019s bodies are vessels for trade Escape seems fanciful; Castel Volturno\\u2019s women are shackled to their rotten lot in life \\u2018\\u2018hope is a kind of vice that nobody ever manages to rid themselves of completely\\u2019\\u2019 is Maria\\u2019s greatest vice \\u2013 vizio in Italian \\u2013 a word that contains in it too the idea of being spoilt or indulged De Angelis\\u2019 film unfolds like a fable \\u2018\\u2018I like to think of this film as a prayer,\\u2019\\u2019 he says \\u2018\\u2018the prayer as an act made by a human being in the moment that he recognises his own limits Praying means to turn oneself towards someone or something that is beyond one\\u2019s own limits.\\u2019\\u2019 I\\u2019m surprised that De Angelis was prompted to make the film not as a reaction to Italy\\u2019s ongoing struggle to deal with the many migrants that reach its shores which is in essence the promise of new life.\\u00A0\\u2018\\u2018I wanted to tell the simplest story possible,\\u2019\\u2019 he says \\u2018\\u2018and that is the story of the human being that is born.\\u2019\\u2019 I wonder whether the birth of his and Turco\\u2019s first child \\u2018\\u2018My life story is intertwined with the stories I tell \\u2026 but it\\u2019s only a point of departure \\u2026 I try to understand the universal elements that are present in my story or in the stories of those who I meet on my way that are about individuals but also all of humanity.\\u2019\\u2019 The Vice of Hope is based on research De Angelis carried out at Castel Volturno.\\u00A0\\u2018\\u2018I spent a lot of time meeting real people and I conducted many interviews,\\u2019\\u2019 he says \\u2018\\u2018I met girls who had freed themselves from these conditions of slavery And I also spent a lot of time on this land with the Comboni Friars who help to recuperate these girls,\\u2019\\u2019 he says \\u2018\\u2018The film has a fable-like atmosphere I\\u2019m very interested in understanding what lies within human beings an ethical duty towards my work.\\u2019\\u2019 feeling strongly that the women\\u2019s stories needed to be told I ask him to elaborate and he explains that the town is both melting pot and powder keg.\\u00A0\\u2018\\u2018Many individuals flee professional failures,\\u2019\\u2019 he says \\u2018\\u2018They find themselves in this hub of desperation and try to find a new path it\\u2019s a little as if everything that happens today in Italy in a diluted way happens in Castel Volturno within a few kilometres.\\u201D who has ridden to popularity on a tough anti-migrant stance.\\u00A0\\u2018\\u2018I am deeply angry with this government which is bringing us to point of perilous rupture,\\u2019\\u2019 De Angelis says \\u2018\\u2018It\\u2019s raising the level of social tension in a way that is completely irresponsible and the consequences could be very grave.\\u2019\\u2019 Salvini\\u2019s ploy for ultimate power backfires assuring his supporters on Twitter that \\u2018\\u2018in the end we will win\\u2019\\u2019 Please view the main text area of the page by skipping the main menu. The page may not be displayed properly if the JavaScript is deactivated on your browser The TimesThe Nigerian prostitutes working on street corners in Castel Volturno this summer look like schoolgirls dressed up for a fancy dress party in their mothers’ clothes and make-up part of a new wave of children tricked into crossing the Sahara and forced by voodoo threats beatings and gang rape to become prostitutes but customers are coming here from miles away just for a chance to have sex with these 14-year-olds,” said Blessed Okoedion a Nigerian woman who escaped from prostitution and now helps working girls Standing awkwardly in the hot sun wearing mini-skirts and long necklaces