ANSA - Researchers from the United States claim to have cracked the riddle of why Italian-made Stradivari and Guarneri violins have a distinctive sound. Joseph Nagyvary, a biochemist at Texas A&M University, believes that wood-preserving chemicals are responsible for the 18th-century instruments' unique sound - explaining why subsequent generations of violin-makers have never been able to recreate the famous violins from natural wood (Read the article on ANSA's website)
 

NY Daily News - An Italian real estate investor has sealed the deal to buy a majority stake in the Flatiron Building in a quest to turn the landmark into a world-class hotel. The Rome-based Sorgente Group has bought just over 50% of the iconic structure and plans to keep buying more. Time magazine reported the deal had been done last summer, but negotiations continued and an agreement was made final only this month.Sorgente Group officials would not say what they paid for their share of the building, estimated to be worth $190 million (Read the article by Jason Shaftell)

New York Daily News- Whether it’s corkscrew-like fusilli, tubular penne or graceful strands of linguine, much of the pasta Americans eat takes its shape in Brooklyn. For 105 years, D. Maldari & Sons has made pasta extrusion dies — the metal patterns that transform dough into unique shapes. The dies are cranked out of a 15,000-square-foot, red brick building on a bleak stretch of Third Avenue in Park Slope, under the watchful eyes of two brothers, Danny and Chris Maldari.Danny, 55, and Chris, 45, run the company founded more than a century ago by their grandfather, Donato, and his brother, Felice. The company supplies two-thirds of the extrusion dies used by U.S. pasta factories and about a quarter worldwide.“We’ve made hundreds of shapes,” said Chris, before showing off a room stacked with small glass jars filled with samples of the company’s (Read the article by Phyllis Furman)

JERUSALEM -- Jewish officials in Israel and abroad are outraged that Pope Benedict XVI has decided to lift the excommunication of a bishop who denies that Jews were killed in Nazi gas chambers. The pope's decree, issued Saturday, brings back into the Catholic Church's fold Bishop Richard Williamson and three other bishops who belong to the Society of Saint Pius X (Read the article on the NY Daily News' website)

From DailyNews. An Italian real estate investor has sealed the deal to buy a majority stake in the Flatiron Building in a quest to turn the landmark into a world-class hotel. The Rome-based Sorgente Group has bought just over 50% of the iconic structure and plans to keep buying more. (Read the article by Jason Sheftell)