The week at a glance ... Europe

Pompeii, Italy

Roman ruins destroyed: After enduring for some 2,000 years, a house in Pompeii collapsed this week following heavy rains. The House of the Gladiators, which is thought to have been a residence for fighters awaiting competitions in the nearby amphitheater, was decorated with frescoes showing martial scenes. The entire city of Pompeii, which was preserved almost intact after Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79 and buried it under ash, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Numerous Italian commentators blamed the damage on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose government cut funding for cultural preservation. Culture Ministry officials blamed a shoddy renovation of the building in 1950, after it had been bombed in World War II.

Perugia, Italy

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Knox in new trial: Amanda Knox, an American student convicted by Italian prosecutors last year of murdering her British roommate, will go on trial once again, after being indicted this week for slandering Italian police. During her murder trial, Knox, 23, testified that police had bullied her over nine hours of interrogation, even hitting her to coerce a confession. Knox said her confession—that she and a boyfriend had killed roommate Meredith Kercher in a sex game gone awry—was false. “I didn’t mean to offend or slander anybody,” she said at her indictment this week. “I was only trying to defend myself.” A slander conviction could add six years to Knox’s 26-year murder sentence. Knox’s lawyers, who are appealing her conviction, say they have evidence of prosecutorial misconduct.