REUTERS. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday said she did not see any Congressional bias against Fiat being involved in discussions with Chrysler because it is not an American company. (Leggi l'articolo)

AFP. The US administration is committed to a "new era of cooperation" with its allies, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday during a visit to Rome. (Read the article)

AP. Italy will not accept any Guantanamo Bay detainees when the U.S. prison shuts down, a close ally of Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Monday after meeting with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (Read the article)

REUTERS. "Somewhere in the mix of things, someone has decided that America has become, is becoming, more protectionist. I don't think that is the case," Pelosi told reporters at the Italian parliament. (Read the article)

NEW YORK TIMES. The Moment. This week’s guest blogger is none other than the éminence grise of Italian design, Giorgio Armani. As the president, chief executive and sole shareholder of the multi-billion-dollar company he founded in 1975, Armani is the wealthiest fashion designer on the planet. He has defined the working wardrobe of the late-20th century and will go down in history as the man who taught Hollywood how to dress. (Read the article by Giorgio Armani)

TIMESONLINE. An Italian Cabinet ministe,r  Roberto Maroni, called today for rapists to be chemically castrated, amid a growing row over vigilante attacks on immigrants that have followed a series of rapes blamed on foreigners. (Read the article by Richard Owen)

AFP. Visiting US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi will have an audience with Pope Benedict XVI during her weeklong visit to Italy, a Vatican official said Monday. (Read the article)

GUARDIAN. Spurred by a row about Facebook pages which honour mafia godfathers, Italian politicians are to vote on new legislation ordering Italian internet providers to block pages on the social networking website which are seen as justifying or encouraging criminal activity. (Read the article by Tom Kington)

ANSA. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi got a surprise gift from Chamber of Deputies Speaker Gianfranco Fini on her visit to the Italian lower house: the birth certificates of her grandparents. (Read the article)

BROADWAYWORLD. A cast of internationally most acclaimed Verdi singers is showcased in the Met's new production of the Italian master's melodic tour de force, Il Trovatore, which opens February 16. (Read the article)

SALON.COM. This week brings us two of the most interesting films we're likely to see in 2009, and at first glance they couldn't be more different. James Gray's "Two Lovers" is an intimate and evidently personal film about a romantic triangle, and Matteo Garrone's "Gomorrah" is an operatic film about organized crime, an ambitious work of social, physical and spiritual geography. (Read the article by O.Hehir)