ROME-- Domenico Quirico, the Italian reporter who has been missing in Syria for 58 days has been in touch with his wife through a brief telephone call, reports Mario Calabresi, the head of the Italian press.

ROME-- A row over Britain’s failure to back an EU law which bans the use of supermarket plastic bags throughout Europe has caused a fresh bout of friction between Italian and UK relations.

ROME–The FAO is paying tribute to Cuba, Nicaragua and 14 other nations who halved their hungry populations but despite the progress donors worry about increased bureaucracy at the UN agency, senior

ROME—Loro Piana, a luxury goods company based in Italy, has secured a significant share in Sanin SA, an Argentinian organisation which possesses the right to carry out the safe and controlled shearing of wild vicunas, a highly lucrative breed for poachers in South America.

ROME–Prime Minister Enrico Letta faces mounting pressure over discrimination against UK lecturers working in Italian universities with a question tabled in the House of Commons on the pay cuts.

ROME-- The community of Sant'Egidio in Rome has sent its sincere condolences to Christians in Northern Tanzania after an attack on Sunday against the New Catholic

ROME -- Harry Shindler, the leader of British war veterans in Italy, has failed to overturn the ban on expatriates voting in UK elections once they have lived abroad for more than 15 years.

 ROME - Prime Minister delegate Enrico Letta conferred with President Napolitano Saturday over his cabinet as horsetrading between the Democratic Party and Freedom Alliance over key jobs continued.

 ROME  -- Former European Commission chief Romano Prodi was catapulted into the race for Italian President Friday but failed to win an absolute majority after MP5 protest party electors denied him

BRUSSELS -A European Parliament leader has told Europe's Commission “finally" to punish Italy for discriminating against UK lecturers in universities in a “race law” recalling Fascist anti-semitism

ROME-- Holding elections in Mali in July "is going to be difficult", given the large number of displaced people and the adverse climate conditions, but "we have to organize what has become a fragmented society", UN special envoy for the Sahel,  Romano Prodi, told Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs on Monday 8th.

ROME -- Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi resigned Tuesday, saying he opposed bowing to India over the trial of two Italian marines accused of shooting Indian fishermen.