"Any cannoli left over?" Welcome to the only newsletter that believes you can shoot the messenger for ruining your day, "Only In Italy!"

Welcome back! Lovely way to start my workday with laughter from abroad.

One question...when Italian men say they love you does it mean the same as other men? Is it reliable coming from an unmarried Roman policeman who lives at home with his parents? Am I just too trusting or insane? Stephanie

Thanks for the request for dating advice, Stefania.

It's perfectly normal to assume your Roman gladiator who is full of himself loves you. However; keep in mind the following proverb on your next date, "Chi pecora si fa, il lupo se la mangia." Those who act like a sheep will be eaten by the wolf.

So, fall in love, be happy and keep an eye on his insane mother who will never trust you.

Enjoy the issue, keep writing and Grazie!

Milan - January 23, 2008 - About ten aircraft await airworthiness checks and remain grounded. Foreign jets land and take off at outlying airports without undergoing controls of any kind. Infrastructures and security systems at airports large and small are monitored by local inspectors but are no longer subject to surprise checks. Italian air transport is out of control, or rather out of controllers. Since the start of the new year, the inspectors of the Italian civil aviation authority, ENAC, have been refusing to leave their offices in protest at the suspension of their travel allowance: two euros an hour before tax.

"Two hundred and fifty inspectors are involved, including engineers, pilots and SAFA workers who implement the EU program to compile the blacklist which entails checks on non-EU aircraft", explains Enrico Deodati, who is in charge of the office that monitors non-Italian operators and is also a FIT-CISL trade unionist. All these workers now taking industrial action.

There are union meetings every day and out-of-office work has been banned. "There could be serious consequences for airlines, the sector and passengers", warn the FP-CGIL, FIT-CISL, APAC and SDL unions.

"The situation could determine situations of objective danger for flight safety", says the pilots' union. "One of the reasons is the new recruitment procedure for executives and the suspension of funds for staff development policies: air traffic is increasing, and so are our duties, but funding is not", adds Mr Deodati.

As a first consequence of the industrial action, seven Alitalia aircraft awaiting renewal of their airworthiness certificates have been unable to take off. Since Saturday, a plane belonging to Alitalia Express and another one from Meridiana have also been grounded. Worries are now growing. "If the ban continues", said a Meridiana spokesperson, "there will be problems for both Italian and non-domestic airlines". There are no SAFA inspections on foreign flights at airports like Naples, Cagliari or Reggio Calabria, or indeed at Forlì, where air traffic from the East is subject to constant controls.

ENAC executives have asked the government to modify the offending article of the budget as soon as possible. "We have received assurances. An amendment should be included in the so-called 'thousand-postponements' decree", says ENAC's director general, Silvano Manera. The amendment was presented yesterday by Antonio Attili, a Democratic Left parliamentarian: "Traffic is growing and they're making cutbacks. It's criminal. ENAC is like the police". But leaving the government crisis to one side, the assurances were not enough. The inspectors have extended their industrial action.

Rome - January 24, 2008 - The number of women murdered in Italy surged last year to a 20-year-high of 181, according to a survey by the Eures think tank and news agencies.

Two thirds of the 181 women slain in Italy in 2006 had close ties to their killers - fathers, husbands, partners, boyfriends - or had recently broken up with them.

In homicides of both sexes, more people were killed by their loved ones than by the mafia - 32% of the 516 murders in 2006 were committed by relatives or significant others, and 23% by the Mafia.

Palermo - January 26, 2008 - Sicily's governor resigned on Saturday, a week after he was convicted of providing information that helped a Mafia boss.

Salvatore Cuffaro, who had initially refused to step down pending the appeals process, told the island's regional assembly that his decision to leave office was "irrevocable."

A court in Palermo sentenced Cuffaro on January 18 to five years in prison after convicting him of "aiding and abetting" by helping a mob boss. Prosecutors said the politician learned from a former police officer in 2001 that the home of a convicted Palermo Mafia boss had been bugged by investigators, and told a doctor who knew the boss about the hidden microphones. The doctor informed the mobster, a revelation that ruined the police investigation, prosecutors said.

The governor has insisted he never did anything to help the Mafia.

Since Italy's judicial system allows for two appeals, Cuffaro had announced that he would stay in office until the end of the appeals process, which could take years.

He was criticized for initially refusing to leave office. Many, including some politicians from allied parties, were angry that he celebrated not being convicted of a more serious accusation: helping the Mafia as an organization. A widely published photo of him offering his aides a tray of cannoli pastries to celebrate fueled the outrage.

The head of Italy's politically influential industrial lobby, Confindustria, lamented Friday that Cuffaro remained in office while Sicilian businessmen were defying the Mafia by increasingly refusing to pay systematic "protection" money (pizzo).

Two years ago, while the trial was underway, Cuffaro was re-elected as governor, defeating the sister of slain anti-Mafia prosecutor, Borsellino.

Cuffaro's brother, Silvio, who is mayor of a small Sicilian town, said the governor was "very serene" after quitting and now would have more time to dedicate to his family, Italian news agencies reported. "Now would really be the time to celebrate with cannoli," Silvio Cuffaro was quoted as saying.