AFP. US film giant Francis Ford Coppola is to premiere his new indie movie "Tetro," a tale of sibling rivalry set in Buenos Aires, at Cannes' prestigious Directors' Fortnight, organisers said Friday.The 70-year-old director, a two-time Palme d'Or-winner at Cannes, will open the Fortnight on May 14, the first of two dozen films in the out-of-competition show, which runs as a sidebar to the official May 13-24 festival. Starring US actor Vincent Gallo in the title role, "Tetro" tells the story of a 17-year-old Italian-American who returns from New York to the Buenos Aires of his youth to search for his writer brother, missing for a decade.(Read the Article)

BELIEFNET NEWS. Former Italian volleyball world champion Andrea Zorzi was one of 50 Italian runners who joined about 100 Israelis and Palestinians in the sixth annual Pope John Paul II Peace Marathon on Thursday (April 23) that concluded in Jerusalem. "I am an athlete and I believe in the importance of sport as a way of bringing people together," said Zorzi about the noncompetitive marathon that aims to continue the legacy of Pope John Paul II for peace, brotherhood and interfaith dialogue. (Read the Article)

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. No conventional biopic could do justice to Giulio Andreotti, the obsessively secretive, possibly corrupt, seven-time Italian prime minister who's still serving his country today as its "Senator for Life." Director Paolo Sorrentino's "Il Divo," in theaters soon, takes an unusual tack.  The Wall Street Journal recently sat down with Mr. Sorrentino to discuss his film, which won the Jury Prize last year at Cannes. ("Il Divo" opens Friday at Lincoln Plaza and Landmark Sunshine cinemas in New York, with a national release to follow.) (Read the Article)

REUTERS. An Italian snake festival that attracts thousands of tourists will not be held this year for the first time in 300 years because of the deadly earthquake this month that damaged the town where it is held, police said. Live snakes are draped over a wooden statue of St. Domenico on the first Thursday of May each year in the "Rito dei Serpari" or snake charmers' procession in the medieval mountain village of Cocullo, one of at least 49 towns hit by the April 6 quake.(Read the Article)
 

NEW YORK TIMES. Tens of thousands, of Lombardy residents are running afoul of a regional law passed this week that regulates how fast-food restaurants and takeout shops may sell the food they produce. The law  bans establishments without restaurant or bar licenses from selling anything other than what they themselves produce on site. “In its original form the law was more racist — it was specifically geared to get kebab shops out of the city center,” said Giuseppe Civati, a regional lawmaker with the Democratic Left opposition party, who organized the protest from his blog and then through Facebook, where hundreds of people joined his group. In Italy, in fact, there are numerous “anti-kebab” groups on Facebook. In Bergamo, Mr. Civati said, there are pro-kebab and anti-kebab Facebook groups fiercely competing for members. (Read the Article by Elisabetta Povoledo)

REUTERS. Italy's G8 partners have welcomed Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's decision to move July's summit from the Mediterranean island of La Maddalena to the earthquake-hit city of L'Aquila, an Italian official said on Friday. "The international community has responded well ... our partners have confidence in us and it is well-placed," Giampiero Massolo, the general secretary of the Foreign Ministry who has a key role in preparing the summit. (Read the Article)

Voice of America. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he wants to move this summer's Group of Eight summit to the site of this month's deadly earthquake to give the devastated region an economic boost.  The Italian government is hoping to hold the July summit of the Group of 8 industrialized nations in the earthquake-stricken city of L'Aquila and no longer as planned in Sardinia.
 (Read the article)

ANSA. A film about the secret son of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini is Italy's only entry for this year's Cannes Film festival. The film, Vincere, will be the sixth bid for the Palme d'Or for director Marco Bellocchio, 68. As Bellocchio recounts, the future Fascist strongman was an ardent Socialist when he met and married Ida Dalser, a Milanese beauty salon owner who supported the often penniless political agitator. (Read the article)

ANSA. Energy experts gathered in Venice on Thursday to sound the alarm over the world's dependence on oil and underscore the importance of clean energy. The meeting, organized by Italian farmers association Coldiretti, looked at the use of energy in different parts of the planet, with speakers from the United States, India, the UK and Italy. (Read the article)