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The article offers the author's insights on Mayor Ignazio Marino of Rome, Italy, and the problems in the city faced by Marino. The author cites some problems including disgruntled subway workers, the arrest of public officials, and grass in some public parks. She mentioned that Marino faces criticism from the public involving corruption.

The article reports that a severe drought and increasing temperatures have led city officials of Rome, Italy to consider rationing drinking water for eight hours a day for the Rome residents, citing significance of ancient aqueducts for the city, along with views of geologist Guido Giordano.

The article reports on the police seizure of 23 restaurants, pizzerias and hotel in Rome, Italy as part of crackdown on money-laundering fronts for mob organizations. It states that authorities have seized 51 million euros in January and February 2014 in mob properties and other assets. It notes that organized crime groups have taken advantage of the economic crisis to speed up their infiltration of legitimate businesses. It also mentions that the crackdown has rapidly expanded across Europe.

The article reports on the decision of former Italy Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi not to lead his party in the nation's national elections to replace the overnment of Prime Minister Mario Monti. According to Berlusconi, he will not run for prime minister but he will remain next to younger players who need advice. He adds that he has no plans of leaving politics but wants to lead behind the scenes.

ROME -- The Italian Senate on Thursday approved a set of measures aimed at fostering economic growth, but critics said that some proposals had been watered down, a sign of the roadblocks facing Prime Minister Mario Monti as he tries to turn around Italy's stagnant economy. The Senate voted 237 to 33 in favor of the ''Grow Italy'' bill, paving the way for passage in the lower house of Parliament before the end of the month. Mr. Monti's government had to resort to a confidence vote on the measures so they would not be thwarted by the nearly 1,700 amendments proposed by senators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ROME -- Ahead of a series of critical meetings with other European leaders, Prime Minister Mario Monti has pledged to introduce measures to revive Italy's long-dormant economy, but is also raising pressure on Europe to shore up the single currency against continued speculative attacks. In an interview on national television on Sunday, Mr. Monti said he would unveil a package of growth-enhancing measures -- in particular, loosening the powers of professional guilds and changing labor laws to encourage hiring and firing -- at a meeting of European Union finance ministers on Jan. 23. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ROME -- Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called an urgent cabinet meeting on Monday, a day after German and French leaders urged Italy to quickly pass measures to help reduce pressure on the euro, but the meeting ended with no public decisions on any new efforts to spur the country's economic growth or cut its huge public debt. The silence appeared to be a sign that Mr. Berlusconi's weakening government remained deadlocked over major issues, despite increasing irritation from leaders of the effort to stabilize the euro. At the same time, that sense of waning European patience -- which some Italians took to be verging on derision -- set off anger within Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ROME-- The Italian Coast Guard found the bodies of 25 young men in the hold of a boat crowded with migrants that was intercepted Monday en route from Libya. Members of the coast guard found 271 survivors aboard the 50-foot boat when they boarded it less than a mile off the small Italian island of Lampedusa, which lies near the North African coast and is a frequent destination for illegal migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ROME -- Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi suffered a stinging political defeat on Monday when voters overturned laws passed by his government that would have restarted Italy's nuclear energy program, privatized the water supply and granted him immunity from prosecution. Analysts said the government was not likely to fall immediately over the results, which came from a popular referendum -- the first since 1995 to draw the quorum of 50 percent plus one vote required to overturn the laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pope Benedict XVI, in a visit to Rome's main synagogue, sought to soothe tensions between Catholics and Jews on Sunday, though he and Jewish leaders aired one main point of contention: whether the church did enough against the Holocaust. At least one prominent Italian rabbi boycotted Benedict's visit after a move by the pope last month to advance Pope Pius XII, who led the Roman Catholic Church from 1939 to 1958, one step closer to sainthood. Many Jews, especially in Rome, say Pius did not do all he could have to stop the deportation of Jews. His defenders say his silence was diplomacy aimed at saving more lives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ROME -- Italians may have headed to the beach for their sacrosanct summer holidays, but a storm may be brewing offshore. High debt, rising interest rates and low growth are fast eroding Italy's solvency at a time when Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government is weaker and less popular than ever before. On Friday, Mr. Berlusconi, a born salesman who seems constitutionally unable to deliver bad news, gave a surprise news conference with his finance minister, Giulio Tremonti, to say the government would speed up the pace of reforms, among other things aiming to balance its budget by 2013, not 2014 as planned in an austerity package approved by Parliament last month. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ROME -- Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy has said he is laughing off his latest sex scandal, in which prosecutors are investigating whether he compensated a number of attractive young women, including a 17-year-old nicknamed ''Ruby Heart-Stealer,'' for sex. But as this seemingly intractable scandal unfolds, filling media with images of scores of young women in his orbit, Mr. Berlusconi finds for the first time in his long career that a growing number of Italians are not laughing along: women. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]