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HUMAN

Human skulls found in Italian expat’s home

Police in Burundi have discovered dozens of human skulls during a search of the home of an Italian expatriate, officials said on Sunday.

Human skulls found in Italian expat's home
Police in Burundi discovered the skulls during a search of the home of Italian expatriate,Giuseppe Favaro. FlickingerBradFlickr.

The Italian national, identified as Giuseppe Favaro, has been in custody in the small central African nation since late October after he was caught trying
to export two skulls to Thailand.

"Everyone in Burundi is stunned and shocked by this, because it's the first time we've had such a thing. Even anthropologists stopped doing this kind of
thing a long time ago," police spokesman Helmenegilde Harimenshi said.

He said Favaro, who has lived in Burundi for around 10 years, had been buying the skulls for around €40 each and selling them for €300.

However it remained a mystery as to what the skulls would be used for and why they were being sent to Thailand, adding that Burundi had asked Interpol to help with the investigation.

"We discovered a package at Bujumbura airport containing two skulls, and investigations established it was sent under a false name by Giuseppe Favaro, an Italian," Harimenshi said.

"Police then discovered 36 human skulls during a search of his house, along with other incriminating evidence," he added.

Police said three accomplices had also been arrested.

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TECHNOLOGY

Finally there’s an emoji for that Italian hand gesture

Messaging your Italian friends is about to get that much easier with a new emoji representing one of Italy's best-known hand gestures.

Finally there's an emoji for that Italian hand gesture
How the new 'Pinched Fingers' emoji might look. Image: Emojipedia/Twitter

No more searching for a meme or GIF: the palm-up, fingers-closed hand gesture will appear among the new batch of emojis set for release in 2020.

Officially known as the 'Pinched Fingers' emoji, the Italian hand gesture is one of 62 new icons expected to make it onto devices by September or October this year.

The emoji dictionary Emojipedia defines the icon as “an emoji showing all fingers and thumb held together in a vertical orientation, sometimes referred to as the Italian hand gesture ma che vuoi [what do you want]”. 

The gesture will be familiar to pretty much anyone who's ever interacted with an Italian: usually performed while flicking the wrist up and down, it can mean anything from “are you serious” to “come on” to “what the hell”.

It is included in Emoji 13.0, the latest set of standardised emoji, following a request filed by US-based Italian journalist and entrepreneur Adriano Farano and two others, Jennifer 8. Lee and Theo Schear.

“Thanks to Italian immigration and the growing popularity of its way of life, Italian gestures are unique and bear a cultural meaning both in Italian speaking areas and worldwide such as to deserve a place as an emoji,” they argued in an official submission to the Unicode Consortium, the body that sets universal emoji standards.

“Adding the 'what do you want?' emoji would not only be a useful addition for the Italian diaspora abroad who is still proud of its origins. It would also, more broadly, offer users a much needed expression to engage in animated conversations by adding a touch of humour.”

Unicode's samples of how the Italian hand emoji might look on different systems. 

While uses vary, they suggest the gesture chiefly expresses “disbelief to what our interlocutor is pretending us to do or be, unless our interlocutor clarifies his/her intentions; modesty towards a compliment, as to say: 'what are you saying, it’s not true?'; sarcastic surprise when our interlocutor is exaggerating his/her arguments and we ask him/her to come to the point”.

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While Farano identifies 'Pinched Fingers' as “the most important and visually distinct” Italian hand gesture, some may be hoping that it opens the door to the inclusion of more Italianisms in future updates. 

Italian developers have already created a separate app, Neapolicons, that provides users with images of gestures common in southern Italy.

Do you have a favourite Italian hand gesture? Sign to let us know in the comments below.

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