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 An 82-year-old Italian woman died after she contracted Legionnaires' disease, a severe, pneumonia-like illness, from the water in her dentist's office, according to a case report published in the journal The Lancet. 

 Italy needs to boost services to support working mothers after the European debt crisis led the government to pass “tough” reforms of the country’s pension system that will force women to work longer, Labor and Equal Opportunities Minister Elsa Fornero said today. 

 Is it crazy to fall for a restaurant because of a handful of chickpeas? Tumbling around with pickled currants under crunchy stalks of grilled octopus leg, these chickpeas were smaller and sweeter than usual, less starchy and grainy. Tasting one was like encountering a goldfinch if the only birds you’d ever seen were pigeons. 

 Italian government debt rose 4 percent in 2011 to 1.897 trillion euros ($2.5 trillion) on funding for European bailouts and a weaker euro that increased the cost of servicing foreign-denominated debt, the Bank of Italy said in a report today.