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Heavy Internet porn use can lead to sexual woes like a drop in libido and premature ejaculation, according to a new Italian study. Padua University andrologist Carlo Foresta said Web porn "gives an imprinting devoid of real experiences and constructs a media-based and instinctive sexuality which takes no account of sensory experience or affection".

The Padua survey assessed 500 young Italian males who said they were "well acquainted" with porn sites. "More than 50% spends at least 45 minutes or an hour sitting down in front of a PC twice a week watching porn films," said Foresta, who is president of the Italian Andrology and Sexual Medicine Society. "The major characteristic marking out these boys from ones who are less faithful to porn is a very strong auto-eroticism. They say they masturbate more than 30 times a month".

"A second and more important aspect consists in the fact that more than 12% of this sample of boys have not sought real-life relations. And 25% reported changes in their sexual behaviour including a fall in real interest and premature ejaculation". The young men took only "a few minutes" to ejaculate, the length of a typical Web porn video, Foresta said. "What emerges with striking force is the need to communicate to young people that this new form of sexuality leads to isolation, a distancing from real sex and an alteration of sexual timeframes."

Italians do it better, according to judges at this year's Sigep, the International Exposition for Artisan Gelato, Pastry, Confectionery and Bakery production held in the Adriatic town of Rimini.

Thirteen nations competed at this year's 33rd edition. Representatives from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Morocco, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland and the USA competed by creating delicacies to express the theme Fruits of the Earth and the Sea. Each nation chose five professionals as representatives included a team manager, captain ice cream maker, pastry chef, ice sculptor and for the first time this year, a chef. Over four days contestants challenged each other, putting in 2,500 hours of working, cooking and creating.

Gelato maestro from the Friuli region Leonardo Ceschin posted on his social network that the idea of entering a competition without knowing the ingredients was an "intriguing undertaking" that he did with great pleasure. The 60-year-old ice-cream maker, whose shop Esquimau has long been a point of reference in his home town of Pordenone, won the gold in the Gelato category. Other winners were Ernst Knam from Milano for his chocolate sculpture, Francesco Falasconi from the town of Tavullia near Rimini for his ice sculpture and chef Filippo Novelli from Turin.

Pope Benedict XVI praised social media and the Internet for offering new platforms for spiritual connection to God. "Sites, applications and networks can help man pray and meditate," he said in his message for the 46th World Day of Social Communications. "Short messages, often no more than brief Bible verse, can be used to express deep thoughts," said the pontiff, referring to microblogging platforms such as Twitter.

Benedict also highlighted the virtues of silence in an age of mass communication. "Silence is an integral part of communication," he said. "Without it there are no words rich in content. Silence and the word are two aspects of communication that should balance each other. When words and silence are mutually exclusive, communication deteriorates".