City News

As experts from around the globe debate global warming and measures to slow it in Durban, South Africa, the city of Rome is taking measures to lower the high levels of toxic particles in its own air.

The Italian capital, due to its infamous traffic congestion and extraordinarily good weather, has exceeded the air safety limits 56 times already this year.

As a result, the municipal government must take emergency measures. They are using partial blocks of vehicles and pedestrian weekends to push air pollution levels back down to normal.

Black Friday was barely a minute old when fights broke out at a Walmart in Rome, sending two shoppers to the hospital and landing at least one more in trouble, the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office said.

A few shoppers were pushed to the floor near a cell phone display and several fights erupted about 12:01 a.m. after shoppers were let into the electronics department at the Walmart at 5815 Rome Taberg Road, sheriff’s officials said.

Italy’s caretaker government of unelected technocrats led by Mario Monti took charge of the eurozone’s third-biggest economy on Wednesday to the applause of Europe’s leaders and scepticism of investors. More >

The sixth Rome Film Festival, marred by protests over cuts in arts funding and struggles to attract big stars, ended Friday with the top prize going to Sebastian Borensztein’s “A Chinese Tale”.

The film stars Ricardo Durin as a lonely hardware store owner whose life is upturned by the appearance of a young Chinese man.

France’s Guillaume Canet won the festival’s best actor prize for his performance, widely applauded in the Italian press, in “A Better Life” directed by Cedric Kahn.

One person has died and another is missing after a storm lashed the Italian capital, with flash floods closing metro lines, halting road traffic and delaying some flights.

Firefighters recovered the body of a 32-year-old Sri Lankan immigrant who drowned in his flooded basement apartment on Thursday. Earlier reports had mistakenly said the victim was an elderly man. More >

Fifteen films are on tap for the Official Selection at the 6th International Rome Film Festival, taking place October 27 – November 4 in the eternal city. As previously announced, the festival will open with “The Lady” by Luc Besson with Michelle Yeoh and Daniel Thewlis, screening out of competition. Marking the 50th anniversary of the film’s public screening, a digitally restored 4K version of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” will close out the festival.

The European Central Bank demanded sweeping reforms and fiscal tightening measures from Italy in August before it stepped into the market to ease mounting pressure on Italian bonds, a letter published in the Corriere della Sera on Thursday showed.

The existence and outline of the letter from ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet and his designated successor, Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi, has been acknowledged but not so far been made public by the authorities.

Culture officials in Rome are mulling a ban on “living statues”, arguing that dressing up in costume and standing on the street to solicit spare change has no artistic merit, media reported Friday.

“Living statues demonstrate no artistic activity, to the extent that they can’t be compared to mimes, and they amount to a veritable racket,” said Federico Mollicone, deputy culture chief in Rome’s mayorship.

Culture officials in Rome are mulling a ban on “living statues”, arguing that dressing up in costume and standing on the street to solicit spare change has no artistic merit, media reported Friday.

“Living statues demonstrate no artistic activity, to the extent that they can’t be compared to mimes, and they amount to a veritable racket,” said Federico Mollicone, deputy culture chief in Rome’s mayorship.

An official of the European Union (EU) on Thursday lauded the Philippine’s ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

“I warmly welcome the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court by the Philippines… and congratulate the Government of the Philippines for their achievement. With its decision the Philippines once more confirmed its commitment to the rule of law, also globally,” High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the EU Catherine Ashton said in a statement released Thursday.