Giorgio Angelozzi once kept bright-eyed Roman teenagers entranced, telling them tales of Ulysses. But retirement finally came, his daughter moved abroad and his wife died. ”Il Professore” found himself alone and disturbed the conscience of a nation with an advert offering money to any family willing to adopt him as a grandfather.

Bloated, blue-collar Americans — gorged on diets of fries and burgers — are bringing the nation’s steady rise in life expectancy to a grinding halt. Twenty years ago, the US, the richest nation on the planet, led the world’s longevity league. Today, American women rank only 19th, while males can manage only 28th place.

Democratic hopes of winning the White House have suffered a blow after a court ruled that independent candidate Ralph Nader will appear on ballot papers in Florida. Nader has been blamed by analysts for costing the Democrats victory four years ago after his campaign attracted voters who would otherwise have backed Al Gore.

The British Army is to start pulling troops out of Iraq next month despite the deteriorating security situation in much of the country, The Observer newspaper has learnt. The news came amid another day of mayhem in Iraq, which saw a suicide bomber kill at least 23 people and injure 53 in the northern city of Kirkuk.