ROME - Oscar-prediction rages as English cinemagoers have a handful of Best Picture nominees to choose from.

ROME – Glamour actress Gina Lollobrigida has made a complaint against her ex-fiancé who she claims married her by proxy and without her consent.

ROME - On Sunday evening the lights on the Colosseum were turned off as part of Rome’s contribution to the Day of Memory.

ROME – On Sunday night Brendan Lynch, 26, prop for Rome’s Capitolina and employee at the FAO, was killed in a motorbike accident on the Roman ring road.

ROME - “In so many ways Mussolini did well, but instating the racial laws was his worst mistake” declared Silvio Berlusconi on Holocaust Remembrance day.

ROME -- It was grey and cloudy as we picked our way down the gangway of our flight from Sicily to Rome, feeling the urge to turn on the lights that grips Romans landing in London from il bel paese.

ROME -In 1978 when Aldo Moro, former Italian Prime Minister, was kidnapped by the Red Brigades, the prisoner’s voice desperately cried out to be heard --  nobody listened.

 ROME -- Whoever said wine and Japanese food don’t go together should try a new initiative of sushi aperitifs with Prosecco at Rokko Restaurant in Passeggiata di Ripetta, 15 in Rome.

ROME - The European Court of Human Rights has condemned Italy for the state of its prisons, which infringe prisoners’ human rights.

 DETROIT, Michigan - On route back to Rome after the holidays, I caught up with an old friend in Detroit where one of my favourite new folk bands, The Flutter and Wow were performing in a local pub

ROME – The Sant'Egidio  Community is offering the homeless a wonderful Christmas gift: a 'Where to eat, sleep and wash' guide to Rome,

ROME- The FAO Director-General says that improving food security in the Sahel will contribute to peace and stability in the region.

ROME – The Community of Sant’Egidio has secured the release of Senegalese soldiers held by the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MDFC).

ROME - Perhaps the most dazzling yet under-utilised resource for English authors in Italy is the Open Door book shop in Trastevere’s via della Lungaretta.

ROME - It’s an original journey into the history and evolution of the most current trend in contemporary fashion and at the same time a tribute to the evocative power of yesterday’s style.

 ROME - The work of Elisabetta Valgiusti, a documentary on Egypt’s Copt Christians, has been shown to an intimate audience at the Chamber of the Deputies.

ROME - A 15-year-old committed suicide after receiving mocking comments which can be interpreted as homophobic.