Stockholm - Italian author Roberto Saviano and British- Indian author Salman Rushdie were due Tuesday to discuss "Freedom of speech and lawless violence" in Stockholm's Old Town.

Both authors have been threatened for their writings and were under police protection. The discussion was organized by the Swedish Academy, the body that selects the Nobel literature prize.

The Academy said some 450 people were to attend the discussion Tuesday evening.

Amsterdam - Italian national Giuseppe Nirta, aged 35, will remain in custody in the Netherlands until an Amsterdam court has decided whether or not he will be extradited to Italy to serve a prison sentence of 14 years and 18 months for dealing in drugs.

The leader of the so-called 'Ndrangheta clan from Italy is also a suspect for the German police in the gangland-style massacre.

In August 2007, a total of six Italians were murdered in Duisburg.

Wim de Bruin, spokesman of the Dutch public prosecutor, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Tuesday that Italy had filed its request for the Nirta's arrest last month.

Rome - A majestic hall at Rome's Diocletian Baths opened its doors to visitors Tuesday, after 30 years of restoration work at one of antiquity's most elaborate and spectacular thermal spa complexes.

The 40-metre-long and 25-metre-high Aula X or Hall 10, with its vaulted ceilings is one of a series of such halls - the other nine are still not accessible to visitors - that form part of the Baths first inaugurated by the Roman Emperor Diocletian in 298 BC.

Over centuries, several Roman emperors continued to expand the spa complex or Thermae from which Rome's modern day railway station Termini, situated nearby, derives its name.

Berlin  - Nothing remotely links the Florentine Renaissance busts of Baccio Bandinelli with the minimalist paintings and sculptures of present day Turin artist Gianni Piacentino.

But by an "art coincidence" the work of both men, albeit with a 450-year gap in between, is currently attracting public attention in Berlin.

Since July 2007 the Bode Museum has been prominently featuring in its Florentine Renaissance Hall the Bust of a Young Man by sculptor Bandinelli (1493-1560).

Art critic Klaus Grimberg, writing in the German Times, quotes one visitor as saying: "If Nefertiti is the most beautiful woman in Berlin's museums, then this youth is the most beautiful man."

Fujairah, Nov. 24th, 2008 --Fujairah Crown Prince HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Mohammed, received here today at Fujairah Ruler's office a delegation of the Italian businesspersons, who are visiting Fujairah upon invitation from the Fujairah Free Zone.

The delegation is led by Giorgi Maskini, mayor of Matcherata city in Italy. It includes over 70 chairmen, managers and owners of major companies in Italy. The meeting discussed available investment opportunities and ways of boosting joint investment and trade cooperation between Fujairah and Italy on one hand, and Italy and the UAE on the other hand.

L'Aquila, Italy  - US president-elect Barack Obama is once again the subject of a questionable compliment from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

During a Sunday press conference, Berlusconi told reporters that "We would all like to be tanned as brown as Naomi Campbell and Barack Obama," reported the Italian news agency Ansa.

Nonetheless, Berlusconi's comments seemed to stem from genuine envy for the complexion of Obama, the first African-American to be elected US president.