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USA TODAY. Who could have guessed that a Hollywood-worthy tale of international intrigue was unfolding behind the scenes at a local art museum? But that's exactly what was happening during the final weeks of a just-closed exhibit at The Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science. Federal officials have ordered the Brogan not to return one of 50 paintings on loan from a museum in Italy because it is believed to have been stolen by Nazis during World War II. (Read the article by Doug Blackburn)
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Target Corp., known for its winning combination of cheap-chic fashion and big-box retailing, is dressing a 25-foot-tall doll in bright zigzag knits from Missoni, the Italian fashion house, in the pop-up store it is opening in midtown Manhattan for Fashion Week. (Read the article by Ann Zimmerman)
ARTINFO. Valentino made his name in fashion by dressing the world's most beautiful women, from Jackie Kennedy to Julia Roberts, in his glorious gowns. The fashion world gathered at a luncheon at Lincoln Center's David J. Koch Theater to celebrate him yet again, honoring him with the 2011 Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion. (Read the article)
US WEEKLY. Three months after she and Clooney, 50, confirmed their split, the Italian model and TV personality opened up about the end of their two-year romance and its aftermath. "At the end of the day I have always seen the end of my relationships as a personal failure," Canalis, 32, tells Italian magazine Chi. "There is nothing ever pretty in saying goodbye." (Read the article)
ANSA. Growth in Italy has reached a standstill, with the OECD estimating that in the third quarter Italian GDP will fall by 0.1% and will rise in the fourth by 0.1%. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development forecast for Italy falls below the average growth estimate in G7 countries for the same quarters, which is +1.6% and +0.2%. (Read the article)
CORRIERE DELLA SERA. This time, Mr Berlusconi faces no charges. He is the victim. The Bari-born businessman, who procured prostitutes for Mr Berlusconi’s Palazzo Grazioli soirées, his wife and Valter Lavitola, publisher and editor of l’Avanti newspaper, are accused of extortion. All three are alleged to have blackmailed the prime minister into paying them five hundred thousand euros and making regular monthly payments of twenty thousand euros for expenses, including rent, to Mr Tarantini and his family. (Read the article)
SOFIA ECHO. The leader and several members of a gang that for three years had been trafficking Bulgarian women to Italian resorts to be forced to work as prostitutes have been arrested in an operation by Botevgrad and Sofia police, the Interior Ministry said. The group also was involved in money-laundering, the ministry said. (Read the article)
LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS. The J. Paul Getty Museum announced that it has acquired a rare intact Italian Bible from the Gothic era for its collection of illuminated manuscripts. The Abbey Bible, named for a celebrated collector of Italian manuscripts, is one of the earliest and finest of a distinguished group of north Italian Bibles from the second half of the 13th and early 14th centuries, according to the museum said. (Read the article)
NORTHJERSEY.COM. Buon giorno, Pascack Valley High School. Twenty-five Italian high school students who study English will become part of the student body this autumn as part of a new weeklong student exchange program. Twenty Pascack Valley Italian-language students will visit their counterparts in May. (Read the article)
M&C. The screening of Italian director Cristina Comencini's Quando la notte (When the night) at the Venice Film Festival drew giggles and even open laughter - but at moments in the dramatic storyline which apparently were not meant to be funny. (Read the article)