Three die as cruise ship runs aground in Italy

Cruise Ship

PORTO SANTO STEFANO, Italy (Reuters) - At least three people were killed and rescuers were searching for other victims on Saturday after an Italian cruise ship carrying more than 4,000 people ran aground and keeled over.

A rescue operation involving lifeboats, ships and helicopters was continuing hours after the 114,500-tonne Costa Concordia hit a sandbar near the island of Giglio on Friday evening. Photographs showed a large gash along its side.

"At the moment, we have about 40 men at work and we're expecting specialist diving teams to arrive to check all the interior spaces of the ship," said fire services spokesman Luca Cari.

"We don't rule out the possibility that more people will be lost.

"This is difficult because the ship is enormous," Cari said, adding that it was lying on its side on the seabed and would probably not sink further.

Passengers said disaster had struck during their evening meal.

PANIC

"We were sitting down to dinner and we heard this big bang. I think it hit some rocks. There was a lot of panic, the tables overturned, glasses were flying all over the place and we ran for the decks where we put on our lifevests," passenger Maria Parmegiano Alfonsi told Sky Italia television.

Police and passengers quoted on television spoke of some people jumping off the listing, 290-metre-long ship.

The multi-storey luxury vessel settled on its side, partly submerged, just a few hundred meters (yards) from the shore. Authorities declined to speculate on the causes of the accident.

"There will certainly be an investigation but at this stage it's impossible to determine exactly what happened," said Italo Spalvieri of the Guardia di Finanze in the nearby port of Livorno.

Many of the 3,200 passengers and 1,023 crew were taken to the mainland port of Porto Santo Stefano where they were given shelter in schools, churches and other public buildings.

The website of the ship's operator, Genoa-based Costa Crociere, had apparently collapsed under the volume of searches but the company set up a helpline to answer public enquiries. Costa said it would cooperate fully with authorities.

There was no word on the identities of casualties.

Most of the passengers were believed to be Italian but people of several other nationalities were thought to be on board.

"We are going through the list of passengers at a reception centre that's been set up but most of the passengers didn't have their papers with them of course, so it's been difficult to get full identification," an official said.

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How vulgar! £1 million 24-carat gold Rolls-Royce is unveiled

Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce

The Rolls-Royce has always had a history of elegance and class - until now.

That prestigious reputation has been smashed by the world's most vulgar makeover of the company's iconic Ghost model.

An Italian fashion design house has created a gold-covered monstrosity costing more than £1 million.

The Fenice Milano 'Diva' has been spray painted in 24-carat gold and the company is so proud of it they have described the model as a 'true.masterpiece.'

It is fitted with the same 6-litre twin-turbocharged engine of the Ghost, giving the saloon more than 560bhp and a top speed of 155mph.

Fenice Milano believes their Rolls-Royce is a 'synonym for class, elegance and style'. many would disagree.

The interior has biscuit leather and 24-carat gold throughout. The standard Ghost costs £220,000 but the Diva is now for sale at £1.05million.

Phillip Brooks, a Rolls-Royce historian, described the car as 'bizarre' but also 'spectacular'.

He said: "I think what Fenice is doing with the Ghost is quite interesting. It's certainly a case of gilding the lily, but the gilding job looks pretty good.

'My personal taste doesn't run to something like a Diva, but I think it would be great fun to show up in one. All in all, perhaps a slightly bizarre car, but a very neat one.'

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Euro loses vs dollar for fourth straight week

Euro VS Dollar

(Reuters) - The euro fell to its lowest in more than seven weeks against the U.S. dollar on Friday and was poised to weaken further after a disappointing Italian bond auction stoked fears the euro zone crisis was deepening.

Italy paid a record 6.5 percent to borrow money over six months on Friday and its longer-term funding costs soared far above levels that are seen as sustainable. The rise in borrowing costs came even as the European Central Bank bought bonds in the secondary market.

Standard & Poor's added to those worries after the rating agency lowered Belgium's rating by a notch to AA and placed its credit outlook on negative.

Signs the euro zone debt crisis was threatening the region's biggest economies such as France and Germany have raised fears of a breakup of the 17-member currency bloc. Policymakers remained in disagreement over how to resolve the crisis, with Germany opposed to joint euro zone bonds and a bigger role for the ECB.

"There appears to be no credible plan in sight to solve the euro zone debt crisis. It shows that there are legs to the market view that the euro zone might be dismantled," said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Travelex Global Payments in Washington.

The euro fell 0.9 percent to $1.3226, having dropped as low as $1.3210, its lowest since October 4, according to Reuters data.

The U.S. Labor Department's monthly jobs data is due next Friday and if they fall short of expectations, the euro should retrace its four straight weeks of decline against the greenback.

"If we get a negative surprise, that could make the dollar vulnerable," Manimbo said.

Key support for the euro lies around $1.3144, the euro's October low, followed by $1.3045, the 61.8 percent retracement of its 2010-2011 rally.

The euro lost 2.1 percent this week after poor demand at a German bond auction on Wednesday.

Bidding for Italian debt was also lackluster on Friday. Italy's two-year yield rose to a euro-era high above 8 percent and 10-year yields traded above 7 percent, a level that is seen as unsustainable.

"The Italian auction was a disgrace this morning, It was worse than what the market had expected," said Thomas Molly, chief dealer at FX Solutions at Saddle River, New Jersey.

Belgian bonds also succumbed to pressure ahead of auctions next week. The 10-year Belgian government note yield edged up to 5.89 percent on Friday, up 3 basis points on the day and up almost 100 basis points on the week.

Strains in the money market for euro zone banks added to investor concerns. The euro/dollar one-year cross currency basis swap, which widens when lenders charge more for swapping euro interest payments on an underlying asset into dollars, was at minus 104 basis points -- close to expensive levels of minus 115 basis points in late 2008.

SWISS FRANC TUMBLES

The dollar rose versus a currency basket to its highest since early October at 79.702 .DXY as investors raised their holdings of the U.S. currency, undercutting the bids for Swiss franc.

"Unless we see firm action from European authorities, the market is betting the worst is about to happen and the dollar is therefore well bid on demand for liquidity," said Jane Foley, currency strategist at Rabobank.

Against the yen, the dollar rose 0.9 percent to 77.74 after hitting a two-week high of 77.79, according to Reuters data.

The euro hit a seven-week low of 102.46 yen based on Reuters data, before rebounding to 102.90, flat on the day.

The Swiss franc tumbled against the dollar and euro on speculation the Swiss National Bank may raise the ceiling on euro/Swiss franc from the current 1.20 level.

The dollar last traded up 1.2 percent at 0.9308 Swiss franc after approaching an 8-month high at 0.9330. It was on track for a gain of 1.3 percent this week, its fourth straight weekly advance.

The euro rose 0.4 percent to 1.2315 francs, after hitting a session high of 1.2380.

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Bad weather in Italy: Declared the state of emergency

Storm in Italy

AFP - The death toll from the storms on Tuesday and Wednesday from Liguria (north) and north of Tuscany rose to seven dead Friday morning after the discovery of the body of a Romanian, while the Council of Ministers declared the state of emergency for devastated areas. Firefighters extracted the body Borghetto Vara, the town most affected Ligurian, after two days of research: the victim was invited to a friend, also died. Seven others are still missing. In the night, the A12 Genoa-Livorno was reopened to traffic in both directions after four days of traffic disruption due to a landslide that had blocked a tunnel.

An extraordinary cabinet meeting, convened Friday in Rome, proclaimed a state of emergency in areas hit by heavy rains that caused mudslides and devastated several towns. The proclamation of emergency rule avoids some red tape and accelerate the release of funds to help the affected populations. The Council of Ministers has also immediately released 65 million euros of aid. Many of them are still without electricity, gas and running water. People who have stayed in their homes are without heating and number of inhabitants had to be temporarily housed in hotels in the region. Furthermore Borghetto Vara, Aulla, in northern Tuscany, was particularly affected, and authorities evacuated 250 people from the historic center of Mulazzo, about ten km, due to fears of a landslide.

In the department of La Spezia (Liguria), where the tourist resorts of Cinque Terre, the towns of Monterosso and Vernazza are still isolated. According to the meteorological services, from 200 to 500 millimeters of rain fell in a few hours, causing overflowing rivers and streams, destroying many bridges and causing landslides and mudslides in several villages. Click here to find out more!