Focus::Daily News
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MSNBC.MSN.COM In this interesting commentary, Michael Ventre argues that the gangster genre is here to stay, as it represents "the dreams of filmgoers to beat the system." Based on a series of interviews with authors and writers—including i-Italy's leading blogger George DeStefano—the article concludes that "Today, in the midst of a deep recession, with banks getting bailouts, executives getting bonuses and average investors getting the shaft, there may not be a more ideal time to live vicariously through outlaws with a taste for cabbage and a contempt for authority." (Read the article by Michael Ventre)
THE STAR-LEDGER. Joe Cerniglia is a third generation Italian-American chef who "doesn't try to replicate some dinner from some far-off restaurant in Italy. He uses American methods, and New Jersey produce, local honey." Cerniglia, according to the Star-Ledger, blends tradition and innovation. ... "But those meatball ($5)! These are hands-down Cerniglia's must-have dish." (Read the article by Teresa Politano)
ANSA. Pope Benedict XVI's third encyclical will be presented on July 7, the Vatican said Wednesday. In the encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), the pontiff discusses economics, globalisation and the need to rise above material goods. (Read the article)
ANSA. The Vatican has spent over three million euros restoring the last frescoes ever painted by Michelangelo which may have unveiled a new self-portrait by the Renaissance genius. (Read the article)
ANSA. A sweep against organised crime north of Naples Thursday netted 15 suspected members of the Neapolitan mafia clan denounced by writer Roberto Saviano in his bestseller Gomorra. (Read the article)
THE NEW YORK TIMES. Mr. Christopher J. Christie, New Jersey’s Republican nominee for governor and former United States attorney, is being questioned by a Congressional panel for
awarding his political allies lucrative contracts to monitor corrupt corporations.
According to The New York Times: "When one Democrat used a line from the classic Mafia film 'The Godfather' to describe the pressure companies felt to accept any monitor a prosecutor suggested — calling it “an offer you can’t refuse” — Mr. Christie said he took the remark as a slur on his Italian-American lineage." (Read the article by David Koceniewski)
While Italian and French drivers were considered the worst and second-worst in Europe, the Greeks were third worst, followed by motorists in Turkey, Spain and Portugal. Those polled put British drivers as seventh-worst. (Read the article)
NEW YORK TIMES. IF ever there were a threat to the reputation of ’60s British sports cars as the most heartbreaking form of transportation sold in America, it probably would have come from Fiat. (Read the article)
ANSA. Italian scientists say that new research offers hope for sufferers of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Huntington's that currently have no cure. (Read the article)
ANSA. Venice on Friday got its first official female gondolier when a married mother-of-two passed her test, breaking into one of Italy's last male bastions. (Read the article)