Former Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro Dead at 93

Former Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, who helped rewrite Italian politics after a devastating corruption scandal in the 1990s, has died at age 93.

No cause of death was given.

After working as a lawyer to help anti-Fascists jailed in World War II, Mr. Scalfaro entered politics and helped cobble together Italy's first constitution as a republic.

He was elected president in 1992 just as news of a widespread corruption scandal involving bribery and illegal political party funding emerged. The scandal wiped out the traditional two-party system in favor of today's multi-party coalitions.

Current Italian President Giorgio Napolitano praised Mr. Scalfaro as a leader of moral integrity who confronted one of the most difficult periods in Italian history.

Photo of Oscar Luigi Scalfaro courtesy of Presidenza della Repubblica.

Italian Opera Star Salvatore Licitra Dies a Week After Scooter Crash

Italian opera star Salvatore Licitra, who critics hailed as the heir to the great Luciano Pavarotti, died Monday more than a week after he was seriously hurt in a motor scooter accident.

Hospital officials in the Sicilian city of Cantania say he never regained consciousness from head and chest injuries and declared him brain dead. Doctors suspect he may have had a stroke just before he crashed. He was 43 years old.

A Swiss-born tenor, Licitra made his debut in Parma, Italy in 1998. He soared to international fame in 2002 when he filled in for Pavarotti in Puccini's Tosca at New York's Metropolitan Opera.

His performances thrilled audiences and critics who raved not just about his voice but his acting ability.

(Photo courtesy of Sony.)