Italian centre-left leader Bersani told his Democratic Party on Friday he would resign as soon as a new head of state is elected, Italian news agencies reported.

 Former Prime Minister Romano Prodi withdrew from the race for the Italian presidency on Friday, deepening the chaos in the center-left after party rebels helped his old enemy Silvio Berlusconi scupper his candidacy.

 Processed food packed with salt, fat and sugar has been making incursions into the traditional diets of countries around the world. Even Italy isn't immune to the reach of junk food. But hard economic times are spurring Italians to rediscover home cooking, and especially bread making.

 Jennifer Aniston wants to “move to Italy, eat pasta and get fat”.The 44-year-old actress insisted she will never give up her acting career but when 'Good Morning America' correspondent Nick Watt joked he might want "to quit TV, grow a beard and gain 200 pounds,” Jennifer agreed.

 The American exchange student jailed in Italy for four years before being acquitted in 2011 says in a new interview the whole experience has left her "paralysed" with anxiety at times.

 Former Prime Minister Romano Prodi failed to win election as Italy's new president on Friday after his nomination by the center-left bloc enraged Silvio Berlusconi and increased the chances of a snap election in the summer.

 The revelation that the prime suspects in the Boston Marathon attack are a pair of Chechen brothers who emigrated to the U.S. has put a spotlight back on a region that has been a source of violence in Russia ever since the Kremlin crushed a separatist insurgency there.