ROME – "In those years Italy and Yugoslavia were the only Western countries to help with the resistance, through publishing clandestine material," said Said Ould-Khelifa, the director of Algeria’s

ROME -- ILO officials are investigating FAO consultant Telma Viale for a possible conflict of interests for apparently working for both agencies, ILO sources say.

KABUL - In Afghanistan, the military forces have their joint operating bases, while foreign NGOs have their heavily fortified compounds and guesthouses.

ROME – FAO Director general Jose Graziano da Silva has fuelled outraged comments from female colleagues at the UN agency by lamenting a shortage of “really good candidates” among women for top jobs

ROME - FAO head Jose da Silva Graziano wants increased support against hunger from the Pope but some observers claim influence of controversial Opus Dei at the UN agency already is excessive.

ROME – FAO’s communications chief lashed out at Italian Insider’s coverage as “highly inaccurate” and “shameful” this month as Lamberto Dini strongly denied influencing staffing at the UN agency.

ROME -- FAO protocol chief Paola Dini has become a key figure in the agency's magic circle, accompanying Director General José Graziano da Silva to Calabria for his honourary citizenship recently,

AFFILE – The recent inauguration of a taxpayer-funded monument to Fascist Field Marshal Rodolfo Graziani has struck a chord with those attentive to a recent, worrisome drift to the far right.

ROME --The tragedy of a Japanese FAO staffer who jumped to his death raises questions whether the U.N. agency gives sufficient priority to staff welfare, UN sources say.

 ROME- We all knew Gore Vidal. How could we not? Ubiquitous on television, as driven as an Olympic athlete, he described himself as "a third-generation celebrity."

ROME– The British Second World War veterans' leader, Harry Shindler, has been made an honourary citizen of Porto d’Ascoli in tribute to decades of work toward Anglo-Italian friendship.

ROME– FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva has strongly denied he is favouring Latin Americans since he took office at the food agency in January.

 ROME– Christian Mersmann, the respected head of the UN’s Global Mechanism combating desertification, was sacked with two days’ notice by IFAD chief Kanayo Nwanze, UN sources said.

ROME– Kuwait is optimistic the Arab Spring will usher in political democracy throughout the Middle East with many countries following the Kuwaiti example of a parliamentary constitution and freedom

KABUL -- In Afghanistan’s northern Takhar province, 120 girls and 3 teachers have been hospitalized after toxic substances were sprayed into the classrooms - only a month after 150 others fell ill

ROME -- Families of WFP staffers "crack at the seams" and their children "can grow up alienated, rootless ... with heavy emotional 'baggage,' a study by the agency finds.