Focus::Daily News
NEWSLINE
GUARDIAN. Pope Benedict XVI waves to pilgrims as he arrives at Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican to celebrate Palm Sunday mass. Photograph: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images
Pope Benedict, facing the worst crisis of his papacy as a sexual abuse scandal sweeps the Catholic church, declared today he would not be "intimidated" by "petty gossip", angering activists who say he has done too little to stamp out paedophilia. (Read the article)
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Germany and Italy are broadly on the path of economic recovery but many risks remain, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday.
Germany should continue to grow but there are substantial risks caused by weaknesses in the banking sector and global growth, the IMF said
THE NEW YORK TIMES. With its close-ups of beautiful people, exquisite cuisine and delirious lovemaking in the hills outside Milan, “I Am Love,” a voluptuous Italian melodrama directed by Luca Guadagnino, is the guilty pleasure of this year’s New Directors/New Films series. The movie, which wallows in luxury, has an elegant lead performance by Tilda Swinton and a throbbing musical score by John Adams. (Read the article)
ANSA. ost of the homes of Ancient Rome's rulers are at risk because of subsidence and rain seepage, an official said after a tunnel over Nero's Golden House collapsed Tuesday.
"The real emergency is on the Palatine," said Domus Aurea Commissioner Antonello Vodret, referring to the first and greatest of Rome's hills, where the city was born and where its emperors later built their residences. (Read the article)
ANSA. A series of beautiful Ancient Roman paintings discovered in Lebanon seven decades ago are being returned to their original glory thanks to an Italian restoration project. The fresco was uncovered in 1937 by British excavators in a 2nd-century AD Roman tomb near the southern city of Tyre. It was removed from the cave in the 1940s and taken to the Beirut National Museum in order to keep it safe. (Read the article)
THE LAS VEGAS SUN. Local attorney Dominic Gentile, a leader in the Italian-American community, is concerned about the city’s mob museum under construction in downtown Las Vegas. ... Will the museum perpetuate negative stereotypes about Italians? Will it glorify the culture of organized crime and lead young people to falsely believe that the mob built Las Vegas? Museum officials have insisted they’re not trying to glorify the mob and that the facts about the mob speak for themselves. (Read more...)
FROM JUDITH HARRIS, ROME. The Italian press and commentators were by and large enthusiastic about the reform, and were saying Tuesday evening that it is a great success for President Obama. News photos showed the President and Nancy Pelosi together, and mentioned that the Kennedy family members were in tears of joy. When questioned about the cost, one university professor, an economist, pointed out that a healthy public is also a more productive public. La Repubblica New York correspondent Federico Rampini wrote that, "Obama has gotten something of a kick out of the battle," and is ready with new projects, beginning with regulation of the financial markets. (JH)
ANSA. he issue of child abuse in the Catholic Church was back in the spotlight on Tuesday, as senior clerics sought to deal with the fallout of recent weeks. (Read the article)
ANSA. Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori is preparing for his third trip to the International Space Station (ISS), where he will test an Italian-designed sensor unveiled on Tuesday at Perugia University. The 'electronic nose', selected for the mission by the Italian Space Agency and NASA, is a highly sophisticated device able to detect various odours. (Read the article)
ANSA. A team of scientists in Tuscany said Tuesday they were using live octopuses as a model for the household robots which will someday clean our homes, mind our children and man our factories. (Read the article)