ROME -- The bomb squad was summoned this week at Leonardo Da Vinci Airport after an American flying to New York abandoned a bag containing 15 cats.  

ROME-- The city's Film Festival has announced an 11 million euro budget and dates of Nov. 9-17, several weeks later than the traditional October launch.

ROME-- A Romanian convicted of raping an American tourist in the normally-peaceful Borghese Gardens has been sentenced to only four years and eight months in prison.

ROME-- A prayer vigil is being held in Trastevere for Christian victims of persecution in Kenya and Nigeria.

The FAO's new chief has taken promising steps toward reversing the demoralisation that stymied the UN agency under the pisspoor leadership of Jacques Diouf.

ROME -- A cat loving charity is organising a 12 day tour of Italy’s cultural and catty hotspots.

ROME -- From May 3 to May 6, the capital hosts the first edition of the Nordic Film Fest, created by the embassies of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden to promote Nordic film and culture.

VATICAN CITY -- Almost 30 years after the abduction of Emanuela Orlandi, the tomb of the gang leader believed to be her killer is to be opened in a bid to shed light on her disappearance. 

ROME -- From May. 30-Oct. 21, The Academy of France –- the Villa Medici -– is to present an exhibition entitled ‘Tapis Volants’ (‘Flying Carpets’).

ROME -- The cemetery for non-Catholics in Rome rivals Highgate in London and the Père Lachaise in Paris as an assembly of extraordinary figures, with John Keats the most renowned.

ROME -- The grand finale of the ‘Days of Azerbaijani Culture’ programme was a concert promoting the culture of Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku.

Pope Benedict XVI this month celebrated his 85^th birthday, making him the sixth oldest pontiff since 1295, and his seventh anniversary as pontiff.

ROME -- Valter Lavitola, linked to a sex scandal involving former Italian Prime Minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, has returned to Italy to face a host of criminal charges.

ROME – The MAXXI Foundation, home to some of the capital’s most prestigious examples of contemporary art, is to pass into compulsory administration.

Brendan J Murphy, a distinguished author and journalist, set an apparent record for a reporter going without sleep during a hijacking when he covered a lengthy drama singlehandedly in Algiers.

ROME – The Eternal City might be known for its famous historic gladiators battling it out with swords in the arena, but this weekend saw a clash, not of steel, but of pillows.

ROME -- Pope Benedict XVI prayed for families to weather the economic crisis as he made the Good Friday Way of the Cross procession.

ROME – The Keats-Shelley House, on the Spanish Steps, has a new exhibit bringing the works of John Keats to life in the place he died, through illustration.

ROME -- I left New York at 34 because every bone in my body could feel that the window was closing.

OSTIA ANTICA -- “Awright gawjusss” “You’re looking real pucka tonight” These were some of the phrases dolled out as guests rolled up for the Arts in English Victorian London night in Ostia Antica,

ROME -- The eight young Somalians charged with piracy in the first trial of its kind in Italy looked bewildered when they first appeared in the heavily protected court in Rebibbia prison.

VATICAN CITY -- The Sistine Chapel is on every visitor’s list of must-sees in the Eternal City, but only a select few get to experience it away from the rowdy crowds.

By INSIDER NEWS DESK

VATICAN CITY -- The faithful gathered in their thousands to hear the Pope’s homily on Palm Sunday, “the great doorway leading into Holy Week.”