LIVINGSTONE, Zambia -- Late in the afternoon we fired up the Isuzu Wizard and travelled down a long, dirt road, down the valley toward the river - across that river were Zimbabwe and Botswana. We boarded the pontoon which would take us across the Zambezi. The sun set behind us into great masses of tree-lined banks, behind the softly rolling hills, throwing long shadows over the opaque water, and lighting the riverbanks in the late afternoon.
MIKE DILIEN
ROME - San Saba is a peaceful neighbourhood on the Aventine hill. Architect Quadrio Pirani envisaged an entity “tailored to human size” and “rather rare” for the type of housing. Indeed, the yellow ochre villas around the main piazza evoke a cosy provincial town. The piazza is meticulously trimmed: every day, a team of gardeners takes care of the greenery. Local residents have that arrogant and distrustful look that comes with wealth and privilege. At noon and in the evening, Roman dialect sounds from the terrace of the local pizzeria “Al Callarello”.
25 Sep 2013
JAN FILIPOWICZ
ROME– FAO employees held an extraordinary assembly Wednesday to discuss industrial action in protest at Director General Jose Graziano da Silva’s “shocking” decision to revoke a key labour contract clause on job security.
Staffers at the Rome-based food agency staged a second walk out this month Tuesday in protest at the Brazilian chief’s abolition over staunch opposition from the Staff Representative Bodies of the so-called “Reduction in Force” clause in the FAO “administrative manual” laying out working conditions at the UN agency.
25 Sep 2013
CHARLOTTE TRUNDLEY
ROME -- In the fight against food counterfeiting, Italian pasta company Divella has said “new actions are required to defend the Italian industry from Italian sounding.”
24 Sep 2013
JAN FILIPOWICZ
ROME-Staff cuts by FAO hatchet man Denis Aitken may cost the UN millions in legal compensation and replacing the Performance Evaluation system also will jack up costs at the agency, UN sources say.
Mr Aitken and FAO OHR director Monika Altmaier are in charge of axeing scores of veteran staffers at FAO to meet Brazilian Director General José Graziano da Silva’s target of saving dlrs 37 million at the agency, essential for his plans to be re-elected for a second term at the helm of the byzantine Rome-based hunger-fighting organisation.
23 Sep 2013
LAUREN MOUAT
ROME—It's a small exhibition space, merely three rooms inside a former 1920's bank, but its display-case size makes Rome's Gagosian Gallery a perfect intermission from Rome's bustling city center. It's a place to catch your breath and meditate on a few select pieces of art, before stepping back into the fray.
22 Sep 2013
CHARLOTTE TRUNDLEY
ROME - Twenty months after it ran aground off the coast of Giglio island, the 114,000 ton Costa Concordia is now fully upright, concluding the largest and most expensive salvage operation in history. The colossal task was performed by a team of 500 people at an estimated cost of €600m (£505m) not including the cost of towing away and demolishing the wreckage which is expected to take place sometime next spring.
17 Sep 2013
CHARLOTTE TRUNDLEY
ROME - Tourists at the famed Spanish Steps rarely notice an inconspicuous door that opens into a shrine for the great poets Keats and Shelley.
The Keats-Shelley House, a beautifully restored pensione in which Keats spent his last days, dedicates itself to preserving the memory of two of the major English Romantic poets.
12 Sep 2013
CHARLOTTE TRUNDLEY
ROME - University authorities in Sicily have been challenged by lecturers about a supposed scam involving Erasmus -- Authorities have however, so far denied any suspicious goings on.
Live Sicilia Palermo has reported that the management of the teaching of foreign languages is causing upset within the University of Palermo. Foreign lecturers, known in Italian as Lettori, are once again being disregarded within the Italian education system.
12 Sep 2013