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THE southern Italian city of Naples, capital of the Campania region, has a reputation sullied by corruption and crime, both petty and organized. But change is afoot. A new mayor has ushered in initiatives to clean up the city, beginning with the unclogging of streets by disposing of uncollected trash and redirecting chaotic traffic flows.

U.S. fastfood giant McDonald's believes recession-hit Italy will be one of its higher-growth areas in the coming decade and is opening more than 100 new restaurants to convert pizza-lovers to its burgers.

Calling Spike Lee “the most anti-Italian director of all time,” a N.J.-based national Italian-American anti-defamation organization has inducted the award-winning film director to its “Hall of Shame.”

A New Jersey-based Italian-American advocacy group is upset with the portrayal of Gov. Chris Christie on Time magazine's cover this week.

A year plus after his owner died, a cat named Toldo has continued to visit his grave in Montagnana, a small village in the hills outside Pistoia, north of the city of Florence in Tuscany.

The family of Italian fashion boss Vittorio Missoni expressed hope Monday that he might yet be found, more than three days after his plane went missing off the coast of Venezuela.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that Italy's prisons violated inmates’ basic rights and fined the government $130,000. It also ordered Italy to make improvements within a year. The court ruled on a 2009 case brought by seven inmates in two prisons who complained that each had to share a 97-square-foot cell with two other inmates.

Italian public security officials will be given the power to stop or interrupt soccer matches in the case of racist behaviour by fans, the government's watchdog for sports events (ONMS) said on Wednesday.

The top political official of a suburb of the Italian city of Naples has denied a request to allow cameras into the area as part of the filming of a television series about the local mob based on fears it would damage the reputation of the neighborhood already known for revenge killings, Mafia control and drug wars.  

 (CNN) -- Boats, helicopters and divers were searching off the coast of Venezuela Sunday for a director of Italy's famed Missoni fashion house and five others who haven't been heard from in more than two days. 

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