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A tourist in Florence, Italy has sparked outrage and criticism recently after she was filmed simulating an insulting sexual act with a Roman statue. The statue was that of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and excess, the equivalent to the Greek god Dionysus. This incident, totally insulting to the Italians and to everyone who admires the Roman world, took place near the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge of the beautiful Italian metropolis. Florence statue incident condemned as insulting act of tourist Images of the woman who allegedly committed the insulting act on the statue in Florence have been circulating on...

The U.S. and Roman Senates, the Festival of Bacchus and the Festivities of Baucus Though, in times past, the festival of Bacchus fell on March 16, there is little doubt that New Years Eve would have been a big day for the Greek god of wine and intoxication. In light of this, and in light of your recent spectacle on the floor of the United States Senate, I offer the following. · Should you wind up in a condition anything like that witnessed in the Senate chamber, please do not go from stupid to dangerous by getting behind the wheel...

Max Baucus drunk on senate floor

AP) Merlot can be a variety of grape or a type of red wine, but not an acceptable personalized license plate in the state of Utah. Glenn Eurick's 1996 Mercedes has had the license plate reading "merlot" for 10 years. He says the plate never got a lot of notice until the Utah Tax Commission told him last week that he had to remove it because the state doesn't allow words of intoxicant to be used on vanity plates. Six or seven-letter words like liquor or whiskey probably wouldn't make it through the state screening process before the plates are...

A chemical found in red wine could make guilt-free gluttony a reality, an international study suggests. When given to mice, it countered some effects of a high-calorie diet, improving their health and increasing their life-span, the team reported. However, the chemical could not reverse all consequences of overeating - the mice did not lose any weight. Writing in the journal Nature, the team said their findings could, in the future, help obese humans. The molecule, called resveratrol, is found in red grapes or wine. Previous research has revealed the substance has anti-ageing effects in some organisms, extending the lifespan of...

Archaeologists studying an ancient mosaic found by workers laying cable south of Rome have been astonished to discover that it is an optical illusion. Viewed one way up it is a bald old man with a beard, but turned the other way round it is a beardless youth. Roberto Cereghino, a government archaeological official... said it appeared to be a depiction of Bacchus. The double face is surrounded by objects that were used in Bacchanalian rites: an ancient musical instrument, the sistrum, a two-handed drinking bowl, and a priestly wand. The mosaic's optical trickery may be linked to the fact...

WASHINGTON - Congress honored President Reagan on Wednesday with a pair of commemorative resolutions approved before his body arrived from California to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. "America was blessed to have such a president and now he will enter the history books as one of our greatest," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. The Senate voted 98-0 for a resolution documenting Reagan's achievements from birth through Hollywood to the White House. "Ronald Wilson Reagan — father, husband, actor and dedicated public servant — restored the pride, optimism and strength of the United States and earned the...

Four Trinidadians have said US authorities questioned them about their contact with a suspected al-Qaeda operative after he visited T&T in 2001. Adnan G El Shukrijumah was named when US attorney general John Ashcroft warned of intelligence showing al-Qaeda plans for an attack against the United States. Large photos of El Shukrijumah and six others were displayed at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday. The Saudi native visited Trinidad for six days in May 2001 and stayed with Zainool Ali, who lives in Chaguanas. Ali and three others were questioned by US authorities in late 2003, they told AP....