ITALY -- Remove your middle name.

This is what the authorities of Italy’s Ministry of Interior or the Ministero dell’Interno, have been telling Filipinos in Italy since the agency laid down its Circular No. 29 on October 7, 2010. The labor ministry has since been ordering ordering Filipinos living and working in Italy to “drop their middle names’ in official documents to avoid confusion in the use of middle names.”

Italians do not have middle names.

LONDON (U.K.) -- Venezuela did it again.

Ivian Sarcos-Colmenares of Venezuela gasped and threw her hands to her face as she was declared 2011 Miss World. She was chosen from among the 113 contestants at a glittering final ceremony held at Earls Court Two in this city on Sunday, Nov. 6.

Last year's Miss World, Alexandria Mills of the United States, took off her crown and placed it on her successor's head.

GERMANY— Filipino novelist Miguel Syjuco, winner of both the Man Asian Literary Prize and Palanca Award in 2008 for his novel “Ilustrado,” was featured at the 11th International Literature Festival Berlin held from September 7 to 17, the Philippine Embassy to Germany said.

Syjuco is the third Filipino writer to be invited to this prestigious literature festival.

Kerry, IRELAND --Tara Talbot, a 27-year-old Filipino-Irish born in Dublin, Ireland was crowned the 53rd Rose of Tralee at its annual festival on August 22, which was held at the Carlton Hotel in Tralee.  She succeeds 2010 Rose of Tralee Clare Kambamettu of London. She won over 30 candidates that participated in the annual event from August 19 to 23.

Talbot, who moved to Australia with her family when she was five years old, is from the West End suburb of Brisbane, Australia.  She never lost contact with her roots and in 2006, she returned to live between Dublin and Galway for three years.

A high school teacher, she is also pursuing a master's degree in marketing. She is the second Rose from Queensland to bring the crown back to Australia and the fourth time the Rose crown has gone Down Under.

Moscow, RUSSIA -- A Filipino seafarer, who was sentenced to serve a two-year jail until June 14, 2012, at the Federal Penitentiary Service in the Arkhangelsk Region of Moscow, was set free August 16 -- ten months ahead of of his full sentence -- the Philippine Embassy in Moscow reported. He arrived in Manila August 20.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said on a statement Saturday that the seaman, who was not named, was given early release from prison as a result of the combination of good relations between the Philippines and Russia and his good conducted while in prison.

ROME, ITALY—A young Filipino was killed and five other compatriot youngsters were injured at a car accident in Circonvallazione Clodia in Rome according to Ako ay Pilipino newspaper based in Italy.  Information about the victims, who were allegedly under the influence of alcohol, were not made available.

MANILA—Filipinos in Greece, for nearly a month, are complaining of a renowned Greek politician’s remarks likening the European country’s debt woes to the Filipino domestic worker.

The statement of famous Greek composer Miki Theodorakis on June 27 that Greece had become the “Filipina” of a troika of financial institutions brings back memories of how the word “Filipineza” created an uproar over the word’s inclusion in a Greek dictionary 13 years ago.

Filipina-Greek Margie Doyle Papadopoulou finds Theodorakis’ statement “thoughtless, hurtful and racist”.

UTRECHT (July 9) -- Following a statement from Malacañang that immunity for the rebel panel would be restored starting next week, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) has announced the resumption of peace talks with the government in August.

"Preparations are being made by the Negotiating Panels of the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) for the resumption of formal talks in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations in Oslo, Norway sometime in August 2009," NDF negotiating panel chairman Luis Jalandoni said in a statement.

BRUSSELS (July 9) -- Mindanao will be receiving additional grant of Euro 3 million (approximately P200 million) from the European Commission, its Humanitarian Aid Department has announced.  This humanitarian assistance to civilians affected by the conflict in the southern province of the Philippines is in addition to the Euro 6.5 million given in October and December 2008, and the Euro 3 million in rehabilitation assistance provided in October 2008.

LONDON (July 9) -- A Filipino PhD student at Cardiff University in Wales won back-to-back awards from two international health associations.

In recognition of his research work on the health and welfare of seafarers, Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno III, a medical doctor and Nippon Foundation Fellow at the Seafarers International Research Centre, was judged to have the best studies at two  international conferences held in Europe.

BARCELONA (July 6) -- Filipina ballet dancer Elline Damian stars in a lead role as Princess Aurora of Ilyich Tchaikovsky's famous ballet "Sleeping Beauty", a production presented by the Ballet Sta. Coloma de Gramenet-David Campos at the famed Gran Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona during the 7th Anniversary of Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day on June 30, 2009.

PARIS (June 3) -– A Filipino seafarer was among the 228 listed passengers of Air France Flight 447 which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on the evening of May 31 (Brasilia time).

The Filipino was identified as Arden Jugueta, a seafarer whose vessel docked in Rio de Janeiro and who was to take a connecting flight from Paris to Manila.

THE HAGUE (May 14) – Mrs. Wads Tiongson-Wijnberg, an Overseas Filipino resident of The Hague, was recently awarded the Royal Honor of Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau for her services to the Dutch and Filipino community during an official ceremony.

The distinguished award was given to Wijnberg on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands by The Hague Mayor J. van Aartsen who, in his speech, praised Wijnberg’s outstanding service.

LIECHTENSTEIN (Apr. 23) -- Former Deputy Consul General of the Philippine Consulate General in New York Maria Teresa Lazaro, presented her Letter of Credentials as the new Philippine Ambassador to the Principality of Liechtenstein to His Serene Highness Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein, at ceremonies held at the Vaduz Castle in the Principality of Liechtenstein.

Ambassador Lazaro is the fourth Ambassador to present credentials since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1995.

ABRUZZO (Apr. 7) -- According to Philippine Embassy officials in Rome, Italy, Labor Attache' Manuel Roldan and Welfare Officer Andelyn Gregorio have been dispatched to L'Aquila, to provide assistance to Filipinos affected by the earthquake which hit the region of Abruzzo yesterday, April 6.

L'Aquila is the capital of Abruzzo and is approximately two to three hours from Rome. It was reported that a Filipino sustainend minor injuries on the hand and face.