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ANSA.  Palermo Chairman Maurizio Zamparini vowed Monday to keep the Mafia out of the Serie A club's business. ''The Mafia won't get its hands on the club while I'm around,'' said Zamparini, a tough-talking boss with a reputation for firing coaches. (Read the article)

ANSA. An Italian primary school teacher is in hot water after a sex education class in which she openly discussed whips, handcuff ...(Read the article)

THE BOSTON HERALD. Palminteri, 56, is back on stage doing “A Bronx Tale” in a touring production that arrives Tuesday at the Colonial Theatre. “It just exploded when I first did it,” Palminteri said of his play. “It became the hottest property in Hollywood since ‘Rocky.’ It was this insane thing.” (Read the article by Jenna Scherer)

Xinhua. Many Italians chose to keep their houses unlit from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday in the Earth Hour relay, a global energy-saving campaign organized by the World Wildlife Fund. (Read the article by Silvia Marchetti)

REUTERS. Back in 2006, a group of four Turin youths insulted and physically abused a young classmate with Down syndrome so severely that the terrified boy soiled his pants. One of the four filmed 191 seconds of the unsettling episode and uploaded it to Google Video, where it remained for about two months before the company finally pulled it. (Read the article)

The New York Times. The explorer Pietro Savorgnan di Brazza is the subject of a show at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò. It is a counterhistory, a celebration of an explorer scarcely known in the United States, an Italian-born, French-educated aristocrat, Pietro Savorgnan di Brazza. (Read the article by Edward Rothstein)

AFP.  Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Friday kicked off a long-expected party congress consolidating right-wing forces under his increasingly dominant leadership. "A great dream is coming true, the official birth of the People of Freedom (PDL)," Berlusconi said at the congress where his 15-year-old Forza Italia party will formally merge with the older National Alliance. (Read the article)

AFP. Reigning champions Italy and 2006 runners-up France can train their thoughts firmly on reaching the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa if successful in qualifiers in the next few days. (Read the article)

ANSA. Bologna is hosting a 10-day celebration of diversity and dignity with a film and arts festival devoted to human rights. Human Rights Nights, opening on Friday, will screen some 50 films from around the world, including features, shorts and documentaries. (Read the article)

ANSA. The Vatican is to receive condoms in the post from subscribers to a Facebook group protesting Pope Benedict XVI's recent comments against the use of condoms to combat AIDS in Africa. Organisers of the Italian group on the social networking website said 60,000 subscribers will send a condom to the Vatican on Friday. (Read the article)

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