New York's commuters are up in arms against the five-hour simultaneous closing of all 78 subway toilets from midnight to 5 a. m. The New York Transit, through spokesman Charles Seaton, defended the new policy implemented the past few weeks, as its way of making the riding public more comfortable by setting exclusive window hours for its maintenance staff to clean the toilets.

It was a festive and rich Christmas for 1,850 Spaniards holding the winning number 06381 for Spain's lottery. With a $3. 1 million jackpot, the winners received $430,000 each. The jackpot money was spread across 11 Spanish provinces where the tickets were sold, including Madrid, Barcelona and Alicante. In contrast, ticket holders of the second prize all came from Barcelona.

Whereas students used to learn the writings of Dante within the four walls of their classrooms, Italian teenagers now are flocking to nightclubs to hear the 14th century poetry of the literary great. Passages from Dante's works including The Divine Comedy have been set to music by leading Italian disc jockey, Alessio Bertallot which aptly accompanies Italian actress Lucilla Giagnoni's reading.

An Indiana appeals court Tuesday ruled in favor of an exotic dancer who reportedly injured herself while pole dancing at a Ft. Wayne, Indiana strip club. According to court documents, Angela Hobson suffered injuries after performing a pole dance at the Shangri-La West club in December 2001. She said she reported soreness and numbness to her supervisors, which they later denied. Soon after the incident, she required surgery for a herniated disc in her cervical spine.

An Italian football team is now the subject of criticism from local official after it had signed a sponsorship deal with an escort agency. Under the terms of the deal, Trentino 1921 is to receive USD $14,200 which provides that the name of escort agency Casa Bianca be posted on the club website.