After years of pressure from the Ethiopians, Italy agreed in 2002 to return a 1,700-year-old obelisk that was stolen by Mussolini and placed near the Coliseum. “So late last year a team of experts carefully dismantled the obelisk, dividing it into three pieces each weighing between 40 and 70 tonnes. The pieces were wrapped up and stored in a hangar near Rome. But now the Italian authorities have run into a hitch. They say they cannot find a plane big enough to transport the pieces safely.”