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Thefastertimes.com. Animals often meander into human conversations in Italy-but not in the same way that they do in English. Italians, although quite foxy, never refer to each other as such. (Read the article)
AP. For the first time in Italy's wine-steeped history, a city government has banned alcohol for those under 16 in an effort to curb drinking problems among youths.
A measure approved in the northern city of Milan on Friday calls for fines of up to euro500 ($700) for younger teens caught drinking and for those who give or sell them alcohol. (Read the article)
THE SUN. Surgeons carried out a 45-minute operation on 82-year-old Pope Benedict XVI, inserting two small iron pins in the fracture before putting his arm in plaster.
The op was carried out under local anaesthetic, and the Pope was well enough to laugh and joke with doctors, a hospital spokesman said. (Read the Article)
AP. An Italian aid worker held captive in the Philippine jungle for six months by al-Qaida-linked militants returned home to celebrations in his small Tuscan town on Saturday.
Gaunt but smiling, Eugenio Vagni landed in Bologna and continued on to his hometown of Montevarchi, which welcomed him with an open-air party in a piazza.
He joked with reporters that it was good to be back, "especially after this six-months vacation that was very hard." (Read the Article)
AP. LES COMBES, Italy. The Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI has traveled to a village in the Italian Alps for two weeks of vacation.
It says the pontiff was flown to Turin on a plane Monday and then traveled on to Les Combes, in a region near the French border, by helicopter. (Read the Article)
AFP. An Italian paratrooper was killed and three were wounded Tuesday in an attack with explosives in western Afghanistan, the defence ministry said.
The device exploded when the first vehicle of the Italian convoy passed by, he said.
The death brought to 14 the number of Italian dead in Afghanistan, about half in combat. (Read the Article)
REUTERS. Actor George Clooney visited the earthquake-devastated Italian city of L'Aquila on Thursday and said he would make a film there in September to help boost the region's economy. "We'll shoot a film here at the end of September, in which I will act," Clooney told journalists, saying he hoped the project would help revive the economy of the region following an earthquake in April which killed more than 300 people. "I think this is the best way to lend a hand and boost the economy, " said Clooney. "We're here to draw attention to this tragedy." He did not name the film. (Read the Article)
REUTERS. Rinaldo Nocentini ended a nine-year drought for Italy when he seized the Tour de France yellow jersey in Friday's seventh stage to the Andorran ski resort of Arcalis. Involved in a 220-km breakaway with eight companions, the 31-year-old from Tuscany finished fourth in the longest stage of this Tour and held enough time at the finish to seize the overall lead from Swiss Fabian Cancellara. (Read the Article)
AP. Actor Danny DeVito served up his own premium "Limoncello" liqueur flavored with zesty Italian lemons and gave a cry of "Salut!" to a drink-sipping crowd at Tales of the Cocktail, a New Orleans cocktail and culinary festival. Wife and actress Rhea Perlman accompanied DeVito as he shared stories Friday about his New Jersey upbringing and spoke of his passion for Sorrento, Italy, where his liqueur is produced. The occasion: a "Drink Italy" event at the Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter. (Read the Article)
LOS ANGELES TIMES. If the earthquake that killed 300 people here in April was the injury, then the Group of 8 summit underway in this ravaged town is surely the insult -- at least in the eyes of plenty of its inhabitants. While builders scrambled to get suitable facilities ready for the onslaught of world leaders and journalists, thousands of residents made homeless by the temblor continue to live miserably in tent camps. (Read the Article)