| Schettino trial starts & stops

A NATIONWIDE strike by lawyers across Italy
forced a hasty postponement to the trial of
Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino,
which briefly began yesterday in Grosseto, Italy.
Inside a theatre converted to a courtroom to
accommodate all the survivors and relatives
of the victims, Schettino appeared for a short
time before the case was adjourned to 17 Jul.
Prosecutors plan to call as many as 1000
witnesses during the trial, which will see
Schettino defend multiple charges of
manslaughter, causing environmental damage
and abandoning the vessel.