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The famous Italian producer and husband of Sophia Loren died two days ago in a Swiss hospital. He was hospitalized in Geneva for pulmonary complications, but the precise cause of death is still unknown.

Ponti was born in 1913 near Milan and after working as a lawyer he started the career as a film-maker. He worked with world renowned directors like Federico Fellini and David Lean. Ponti’s fame came out in 1965, when he was nominated for an Oscar as a producer of "Doctor Zhivago". The audience knows his name also by films such as "Blow-Up," "The Verdict" and "The Cassandra Crossing".

Those that have already seen the first episode of the gigantic tale about Roman Empire will be captured by its second part, which first episode will be released on HBO this Sunday. Critics say that the written version is not so impressive as the film, because it is more attractive for the eye to follow the story with all the historical places, people and events into visual action. Cleopatra will be the main character with all her beauty and majesty. The TV auditory will be able to follow her drama and hear her words of sacrifice “If I must prostitute myself for the good of my country and my family, I will".

The 78-years old world famous composer of Untouchables and Cinema Paradiso has been nominated many times this far but has never won an Oscar. This time he is going to receive a honorary Oscar at the Academy Awards ceremony on 25th of February 2007.

Ennio Moriccone was born in Rome and has built a respectful 45-years career, during which composed the music for more than 300 scores, among which the renowned Malena, The Mission and Bugsy. He became most famous with the Sergio Leone’s westerns, such as “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”.

The ex Italian Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi fainted while holding a speech at a meeting with young followers of the centre-right ideas in Montecatini Terme, Tuscany. Mr Berlusconi fell on the floor with closed eyes. After he was taken out from the room, he felt better and refused to leave with the ambulance but his own car. Later on, the former prime minister went by a helicopter to a hospital in Milan, where examinations were about to be made.

The world renowned Italian fashion house Versace has recently announced that its owners plan to build 15 luxury resorts in different countries.

Versace magnate is already an owner of a hotel on Australia's Gold Coast but this time an agreement with local Australian proprietor was signed about the new 7-star hotels which will be furnitured and designed with the typical for the fashion company glamour.

Three days ago, there was a collision between two trains from the underground metro system in Rome. It resulted in one dead person and 110 injured people, the Italian authorities announced. At first, the news was for two victims but later it appeared that there was a confusion regarding the second one.

According to the rail operator, the train that was stopped in the station Vittorio Emanuele II was hit from the other one, traveling with high speed in the tunnel. Passengers from the second train said that the driver did not stop at the red light and continued on. Ambulance servants, firefighters and police attempted to set free the people, stuck inside the train. The TV news showed injured people, while being escorted to the ambulances.

New scandal has arisen in Italy, since the media announced two weeks ago for the abduction of the Italian journalist Gabrielle Torsello in Afghanistan. The journalist, known as “Kash” because of his articles regarding the Kashmir conflict, was kidnapped from a bus by gunmen, who are presumably members of the Taliban group.

The abduction is in result of another story, involving Abdul Rahman who has converted to Christianity. For this reason he was accused for abandoning Islam and he has to be persecuted according to the traditional law in Afghanistan, which provides for death penalty in such cases. Rahman has asked for a refuge in Italy and he has been accepted by the Italian government in March, this year. Since then, it was not clear which is his actual place of residence. The ravishers demanded the converter’s return in Afghanistan and announced a deadline to the Italian aid agency Emergency, but the agency officials did not provide any comment on the matter.

Recently, Pope Benedict provoked strong protests among the Muslims by quoting a Byzantine emperor, who said that Islam is "evil and inhuman". Later, the Pope apologized in public and said that he did not intend to offend anybody. According to his words, he was misunderstood and his own beliefs did not coincide with those of the emperor.

The Holy Father gathered Muslim diplomats and appealed for good relations between the followers of Christianity and Islam, tolerance and “reciprocity in all fields”, as well as religious freedom. Thus, he came upon the issue for the Vatican in Saudi Arabia and other countries, where non-Muslims cannot worship freely.

The Prodi’s government took the decision to deploy 2,500 Italian troops for a UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon. The Defense Minister Arturo Parisi said the troops would be in Lebanon for four months and their stay would be split into two phases with a maximum of 2,450 soldiers on the ground. The soldiers will be accompanied by the minister Parisi and the Armed Forces Chief General Gianpaolo Di Paolo.

The conflict in Lebanon was the reason the Italian Premier Romano Prodi to arrange a meeting with government officials, among which were the Defense Minister Arturo Parisi and the Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema. On Sunday, Aug. 13, 2006 Prodi held a press conference at his office, Chigi palace and announced that next week the Italian government will hold a Cabinet meeting to make the decision whether and at what extent Italy should involve in a U.N. peace force regarding the conflict in Southern Lebanon.

Most recent surveys have been held to re-define the list of European cities, according to their cost of living. The results show that Rome is among the most expensive cities on the continent. This provoked many visitors planning to see the Eternal city, to search the web in order to find cheaper accommodation and tourist packages for their vacation. Certain websites like www.b-b.rm.it offer

Most recently, texts based on the relationship of the Church with Judaism, as well as Papal homilies on the matter have been compiled and published. The book has the title "Awake! Do Not Forget Man, Your Creature" and has been released by Vatican Publishing House. It consists of several volumes and begins with Benedict XVI's address on May 31 in St. Peter's Square. On this day and place, the Pope said: "In face of the horror of Auschwitz there is no answer other than the cross of Christ: Love that descends to the bottom of the abyss of evil, to save man at the root, where his freedom can rebel against God."

Many of the cultural treasures in Rome are currently in very adverse circumstances and unfortunately this is a fact, well-known not from yesterday. The Italian government is running through a thorough assessment of the archeological sites in the Italian capital and takes decisions about where most urgent repairs should be accomplished. Recently, the experts have found out some dangerous damages, such as waterlogged foundations, crumbling walls and fragile tunnels.

Politics in brief: The exit from the Italian parliamentary elections was in favour of Romano Prodi and his centre-left party. This provoked high pressure among the opposition. Silvio Berlusconi appealed that if Prodi's party refuses to choose a "right" candidate for president, his actions will be "firm, absolute and total" against the future parliament, including non-parliamentary methods.

"If also this offer from us is rejected, we will count it not only as our right but as obligation to change our policy with firm, absolute and total opposition in all situations", claimed the Italian prime-minister quoted by the information agencies.

Several days before the national elections, a recent scandal between the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the opposition leader Romano Prodi became the main hot topic.
The leader of “Forza Italia” promised that Italians will no longer have to pay property tax, known as ICI, on their primary residences. The fears are that it would cause troubles because the tax on primary residences currently takes in some 2.3 billion euros ($2.8 billion), which goes directly to towns to finance public services.