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ANSA. Venice residents are to stage a mock funeral for the city Saturday to highlight the drastic shrinking of its native population. Three gondolas will escort a red coffin along famed canals in a symbolic lament for the once-flourishing city's decline. (Read the article)

AFP. An album of Pope Benedict XVI speaking against a background of specially-composed classical and world music will be released on November 30, but the Vatican said it will get only 31,000 euros from the deal.  (Read the article)

ANSA. Photographer Gabriele Morrione's portraits of women at a new show in Rome are not just faces but voices who tell visitors what they think about him and themselves. ''I wanted to give the sitters an opportunity to become active rather than passive subjects," said Morrione who asked each to contribute a written piece to accompany her portrait. (Read the article)

Silive.com. "Staten Island," the film, is a darkly humorous love letter to director James DeMonaco's home town (he grew up in Prince's Bay) -- following a pack of mobsters and the would-be innocents they ensnare through the borough's strip malls, salumerias and large, empty swaths of land.  And while filmmakers often draw on their roots in character-making (read Woody Allen and Eddie Murphy), some Staten Islanders, especially those of Italian American descent, are incensed over the depiction of the "forgotten borough" as it is dubbed in the film's promotional poster. (Read the article)