ROME– Prisons have been opened, the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities damaged, the internet shut down, curfews imposed, and government buildings and police stations burned, with widely varying estimates of casualties. Food rations are scarce in Egypt but protestors are showing no sign of backing down.

ROME -Dante Alighieri is tantalising because he is just beyond reach. Parts of his life are well-documented but much that is important is hidden. Although Dante was celebrated in his last years, the first biography of him, by Giovanni Boccaccio, was written over three decades after his death.  Boccaccio was eight years old when Dante died in 1321. Much had already been lost when Boccaccio wrote — nothing handwritten by Dante has survived.

ROME-Green economists from the U.K and Italy have met together for a one day seminar to discuss the challenges and solutions facing both countries in their efforts to build a sustainable future.

Speakers included Chris Dodwell, Head of Department for Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) Mitigation Policy Unit, Corrado Clini, Director General of Italy’s Ministry of Environment, Matt Jackson from the FCO’s Low Carbon Transition Team and Francesco Starace, Chief Executive of ENEL Green Power.

ROME — Italy’s long-running domestic political crisis is preventing it from reacting to the political change sweeping the Arab world, making its extensive business and strategic interests and influence in north Africa vulnerable, political experts say.