EXAMINER. I challenge you to come up with some low cost, healthy and delicious recipes using leftovers and inexpensive ingredients – just like the Italians do. As you may know, Italians throw nothing away and utilize every part of the animals they consume (think of head cheese or pickled pigs feet)! This is true now more than ever. Some of my favorite meals as a child resulted from my father or mother using kitchen leftovers. Most people know about the delicious Tuscan soups (like ribollita or pancotto) made utilizing breads – usually stale breads. Have you heard of polpette (meatballs made from leftovers - sometimes coated and fried) or fresh pasta ravioli with stuffing made from leftover fish or meat? Have you heard of soups or pasta sauces made with fish bones and fish heads or those flavored with parmesan crust?

Russiatoday. Since 1918, March 8 has been an official state holiday in Russia, known as International Women’s Day. Modern day celebrations take the form of toasting and giving presents to the attention towards the fairer sex, yet few are aware of this holiday’s origins. (Read the article by Anna Bogdanova)

AFP. Women have certainly boosted their presence in European governments, thanks in part to electoral quotas, but are still under-represented despite high profile exceptions like Angela Merkel and Margaret Thatcher. (Read the article)

New York Times.  I am sitting at the desk of my room at the Renaissance Toronto Hotel Downtown when I realize that I should be standing. I think. Outside my window, “O Canada” is playing. Two teams of baseball players are arranged on the baselines, honoring the Canadian flag. I am not in the stands, so I do not count toward the attendance figure. I can see my seat in the press box, and it is empty. Yet I am really here at the game. (Read the article by Tyler Kepner)

BROADWAYWORLD. It may sound like an ethnic stereotype to say Angelina Fiordellisi runs the Cherry Lane Theatre like an Italian mama, but it’s hard to resist as you listen to her talk about making a home for artists and tending to their needs. (Read the article by Adrienne Onofri)

AP.  After a nervous start, Carlos Guillen got Venezuela rolling with a home run. It was just the start for a potent offense. Guillen and Melvin Mora hit solo homers, Bobby Abreu singled in two runs in a four-run fifth inning and Venezuela defeated Italy 7-0 at the World Baseball Classic on Saturday night. (Read the article)