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Part of the mystery behind an 'alien' book no one can read has at last been unraveled. Found in a chest of books outside Rome by a dealer in antique books, the Voynich manuscript is among literature's great mysteries. The book of aging parchment is written in alien characters, some resembling Latin letters, others unlike anything used in any known language, and arranged into what appear to be words and sentences -- except they don't resemble anything written or read by human beings.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but police suspect anarchist movements. Two parcel bombs exploded inside the Swiss and Chilean embassies in Rome on Thursday, injuring an employee at each diplomatic post.

Doctors could one day use a blood test to predict decades in advance when women will go into menopause, scientists say. In research to be presented on Monday at a European fertility conference in Rome, Iranian experts say their preliminary study could be a first step toward developing a tool to help women decide when they want to have children.

Thousands of priests from around the world have massed in Rome in one of the largest such gatherings ever in a major show of support for Pope ...

Google struck a deal with the Italian government to digitize up to one million books held in the National Libraries in Rome and Florence.

Stops in the four-hour tour call at Roman sites both familiar and off-the-beaten-track.

Dinara Safina secured her first WTA Tour title since taking over the No. 1 ranking by beating fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-2 Saturday in the final of the Italian Open.

She has been competing internationally since age 14 and now, at 42, swimmer Dara Torres has 12 Olympic medals from five summer Olympics to her name. From Seoul to Barcelona to Sydney, the mother of 3-year-old Tessa continues to travel and flex her swim muscles.