Rome's new mayor has announced his intention to tear down a museum designed by US architect Richard Meier that critics decried as a modernist eyesore when it was unveiled in the historic centre in 2006.
"Meier's building is a construction to be scrapped," said mayor Gianni Alemanno at a news conference as he outlined his plans for Rome on Wednesday. "It isn't the top priority, obviously," he added, leaving the timing of any future demolition unclear.
A glass, marble and steel structure praised by many as a welcome addition to Rome's more traditional architecture, the Ara Pacis museum was the first modern building to rise in the ancient centre since dictator Benito Mussolini ruled Italy more than half a century ago.
It was built to house the Ara Pacis, a 2,000-year-old altar commissioned by Roman Emperor Augustus to commemorate the pacification of what is today France and Spain.
No more pigeon feeding
The days when Venice tolerated tourists feeding pigeons in St Mark's Square are over. Starting from Wednesday, it's illegal. The sale and distribution of grain to feed the birds is now banned, ending a tradition that attracted pigeons, and their droppings, to the most picturesque part of the lagoon city.
Fines for ignoring the ban start at €50, the mayor's office said, yesterday. The vendors who sold grain to the tourists are now out of a job.
"Thanks Mr Mayor for killing off our business after 100 years of sales," read one banner.
Authorities say pigeons are eating away at the city's marble statues and buildings by pecking at small gaps in the façades to reach for scraps of food that were blown inside. Cleaning up monuments and repairing the damage caused by pigeons cost each Venetian taxpayer €275 a year, one study estimated.
Cameras for 'lollipop' helpers
School traffic crossing helpers are being armed with new high-tech weapons in a bid to fight a growing number of so-called "lollipop" rage incidents.
Lollipops are the "Stop" signs carried by the yellow-jacketed men and women who help children to cross the road at zebra crossings near schools. Trouble is, many drivers fail to heed them and some become downright aggressive.
Now, though, the signs are to be fitted with miniature cameras, one facing forward and the other backwards, to trap offenders, the Local Government Association (LGA) announced.
Authorities say both monitors and children are being subjected to a growing amount of threatening behaviour, intimidation and swearing, especially during the morning rush hour. Latest figures show there were more than 1,400 reported "lollipop-rage" incidents last year.
Ancient meteorite goes unsold
Some dinosaur dung was snapped up at auction in New York even as a 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite which was supposed to top the sale went unsold.
The two chunks of 130-million-year-old coprolite, otherwise known as fossilised dinosaur dung, fetched $960 at Bonhams in New York on Wednesday, the auction house said.
The Jurassic-era rocks were sold for more than double their maximum estimate to a telephone bidder whom the auction house declined to identify.
A 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite, on which a Chinese desert hiker habitually ate lunch before he discovered it was valuable, failed to meet the minimum reserve however. Bonhams had expected the space rock to sell for $2.25 million to $2.75 million.
Tokyo's last giant panda dies
The last giant panda at Tokyo's main zoo has died, raising the question of whether Chinese President Hu Jintao might engage in some panda diplomacy when he visits next week.
Ling Ling, a 22-year-old male giant panda popular among zoo visitors, died overnight at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, an official at the zoo said.
An official at Japan's foreign ministry said possible panda loans from China had been raised previously through diplomatic channels, as Ling Ling aged. But she added that the issue had so far not been included in topics for discussion during the visit by Mr Hu, the first visit to Japan by a Chinese President in 10 years.
Ling Ling moved to Tokyo from the Beijing Zoo in 1992, when the two zoos exchanged pandas for breeding purposes.
But the Tokyo zoo failed to bring forth any panda cubs between Ling Ling and three other pandas there, and he had been living alone since 2005, after two others died and a visiting panda returned to Mexico.