THE NEW YORK TIMES. Mr. Christopher J. Christie, New Jersey’s Republican nominee for governor and former United States attorney, is being questioned by a Congressional panel for
awarding his political allies lucrative contracts to monitor corrupt corporations.
According to The New York Times: "When one Democrat used a line from the classic Mafia film 'The Godfather' to describe the pressure companies felt to accept any monitor a prosecutor suggested — calling it “an offer you can’t refuse” — Mr. Christie said he took the remark as a slur on his Italian-American lineage." (Read the article by David Koceniewski)

While Italian and French drivers were considered the worst and second-worst in Europe, the Greeks were third worst, followed by motorists in Turkey, Spain and Portugal. Those polled put British drivers as seventh-worst. (Read the article)

NEW YORK TIMES. IF ever there were a threat to the reputation of ’60s British sports cars as the most heartbreaking form of transportation sold in America, it probably would have come from Fiat. (Read the article)

ANSA. Italian scientists say that new research offers hope for sufferers of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Huntington's that currently have no cure. (Read the article)

ANSA. Venice on Friday got its first official female gondolier when a married mother-of-two passed her test, breaking into one of Italy's last male bastions. (Read the article)