Vatican to help restore art damaged in central Italy quake

September 15th, 2009 Italy quake victims get new homes; new quake hitsROME — The government is handing over dozens of new homes to victims of the April 6 earthquake that devastated parts of central Italy. Premier Silvio Berlusconi will preside over the inauguration ceremony Tuesday for the first new homes in Onna, a tiny hamlet that was leveled by the magnitude 6.3-magnitude temblor.

July 13th, 2009 KUNMING - A moderate aftershock jolted south China's Yunnan province early Monday after an earthquake hit the area Thursday evening and damaged 625,000 houses. The 4.7 magnitude quake rocked Yao'an county at midnight and lasted about 10 seconds.

July 10th, 2009 France's first lady visits quake-torn cityL'AQUILA, Italy — France's Italian-born first lady has pledged a personal donation of euro50,000 ($70,000) to a hospital treating quake survivors. Carla Bruni toured the damaged central Italian town of L'Aquila and said her husband's government will contribute euro3.2 million to help repair the dome of the Santa Maria du Suffragio church on the town's central square.

July 10th, 2009 L'AQUILA - While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been busy with back-to-back meetings of the G8-G5 summit and bilaterals with heads of other countries in this quake-hit town of central Italy, his wife Gursharan Kaur had her own engagements that included an audience with the Pope. Kaur was taken with wives of other top leaders by Italian authorities to have a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in Rome, about 100 km from here.

July 9th, 2009 Clooney: I'll film in Italy quake areaL'AQUILA, Italy — George Clooney has toured the ruins of Italy's recent earthquake and told the survivors he'll shoot a film in their mountain region. The actor inspected crumbled buildings during a visit on the sidelines of the G-8 summit in L'Aquila.

July 5th, 2009 Russian president: We want better Vatican tiesVATICAN CITY — Russia's president says Moscow plans to improve its ties with the Vatican. Tensions between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches over property disputes and other issues have so far made it impossible for any pope to visit Moscow.

July 4th, 2009 Vatican runs deficit amid economic crisisVATICAN CITY — The Vatican said Saturday it ran a deficit in 2008 as its finances and donations from across the world were hit by the global economic crisis. The Vatican posted a budget deficit for a second straight year, though the figures improved strongly from 2007.

July 2nd, 2009 Italy hopes for quake reconstruction pledges at G8ROME — Italy is using the upcoming Group of Eight summit in quake-devastated central Italy to encourage participating countries to adopt monuments damaged in the temblor and pledge to help restore them. Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Thursday he would accompany individual heads of state, including the U.S.

June 23rd, 2009 Italy: Strong aftershock hits quake zoneROME — A powerful aftershock hit the quake-struck areas of central Italy on Monday, rattling buildings as far away as Rome. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

June 20th, 2009 Moderate quake shakes central CaliforniaPASO ROBLES, Calif. — A moderate earthquake has jolted part of central California's San Luis Obispo County.

April 28th, 2009 Pope visits quake-hit area in central ItalyL'AQUILA, Italy — Pope Benedict XVI visited the earthquake-ravaged area of central Italy on Tuesday to comfort survivors and give them hope to rebuild, visiting tent camps and a dormitory whose collapse epitomized the shoddy construction blamed for many of the 300 deaths. The pope's first stop was the hamlet of Onna, which was leveled by the April 6 quake, and where around 40 of its 300 residents were killed.

April 28th, 2009 Pope to visit quake-hit area in central ItalyONNA, Italy — Pope Benedict XVI will visit the region in central Italy devastated by an earthquake that killed nearly 300 people earlier this month. Benedict's first stop Tuesday will be the village of Onna, which was virtually leveled and where around 40 of the hamlet's 300 residents were killed by the 6.3-magnitude temblor that struck April 6.

April 9th, 2009 LONDON - A 98-year-old women had a unique surviving strategy after she was captured in the rubble caused by the L'Aquila earthquake in Italy-busying herself in knitting. When rescue workers reached Maria D'Antuono, she revealed that in the 30 hours of being trapped in the rubble, she resorted to knitting to keep herself busy and stay alive.

April 8th, 2009 L'AQUILA - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has advised traumatised earthquake survivors to view living in emergency tent accommodation as like being on a "camping weekend". His statement is unlikely to go down well with an estimated 17,000 people who have been made homeless by the powerful earthquake which struck the Abruzzo region of central Italy on Monday, with many of them enduring freezing temperatures in tent cities put up by the army, reports The Telegraph.

April 7th, 2009 ROME - The death toll from the powerful earthquake that struck central Italy early Monday had gone beyond 150, far higher than the last previous accounts, the Ansa news agency reported. The agency cited hospitals in the quake-struck region northeast of the capital Rome in reporting the figure, which was well up on the previous toll of at least 90 people killed.