NEW YORK TIMES.  Italy agreed Sunday to evacuate about 140 migrants from the deck of a Turkish-owned cargo ship that had rescued them in the Mediterranean Sea, breaking four days of diplomatic gridlock with Malta over who should take responsibility.  Franco Frattini, Italy’s foreign minister, said that his country had agreed to accept the migrants on humanitarian grounds after the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, intervened with the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and his Maltese counterpart, Lawrence Gonzi. (Read the Article)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. The Vatican will help restore paintings, statues and other artworks damaged in the earthquake that devastated central earlier this month. Francesco Buranelli, a top culture official at the Holy See, said experts from the Vatican museums will directly restore some of the works. Italy's culture minister has estimated restoration works will cost at least euro50 million ($65million). (Read the Article)

DALLAS NEWS. Mexican drug traffickers are funneling cocaine to Italian organized crime, and some shipments are moving through Dallas. "We've got some of the major cartel members established here dealing their wares in Europe," said James Capra, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Dallas office. Places like Houston and Dallas are where these criminal organizations are most likely to invest their money," said Antonio Nicaso, an internationally recognized author and lecturer on Italian organized crime. "This is the right time, with the recession going on."  (Read the Article by Jason Trahan)

CHICAGO TRIBUNE. More than 60 Italian restaurants in Chicago are joining in a protest against a punitive tariff that's about to double the price of Italian mineral waters. The tariff is a 100 percent import duty that will effectively double the price of such beverages as San Pellegrino, Acqua Panna and Sole. The double duty is part of a U.S. payback for the European Union's ban on American beef containing hormones, and the U.S. has slapped tariffs on dozens of EU imports, not just Italian mineral water. But Italian water is a higher-visibility, higher-volume consumer product than the chestnuts, frozen meats and Roquefort cheese that have been targeted previously. And this latest tariff hits Italy—which the Chamber of Commerce says exports 40 percent of its mineral water to the U.S.—particularly hard. (Read the Article)
 

NEW YORK TIMES. Is it or isn’t it a Michelangelo? That is the question being pondered by art experts after the Italian state spent 3.3 million euros, or $4.2 million, last year to buy a small wooden crucifix attributed to that Renaissance genius. Works by Michelangelo don’t come up for sale often, but the occasional drawing has nabbed as much as $20 million at auction. By comparison, the linden wood crucifix, which was sold by the Turin antiques dealer Giancarlo Gallino, is a bargain.

ATLANTA BUSINESS CRONICLE. Italy will reopen its honorary consulate in Atlanta, but upgraded to an Honorary Consulate General. Angela Della Costanza Turner will serve as Honorary Consul General of Italy for Georgia. (Read the article)