Italy News

(ANSA) - Rome, February 9 - The Italian government will not be intimidated by an attempted attack against its embassy in Tehran and will continue to support the Iranian opposition, European Affairs Minister Andrea Ronchi said on Tuesday.

"The assault against the Italian embassy is a serious and unacceptable action," he said.

"Italy will not waiver from its policy of firmness and will continue to back Iranian citizens who, at though risking their lives, hold demonstrations to demand their right to freedom, democracy and respect of human rights".

(ANSA) - Tehran, February 9 - The Italian ambassador in Tehran was summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry on Sunday for a formal protest over remarks made by Premier Silvio Berlusconi during a visit to Israel last week, local sources said on Tuesday.

Informed sources who demanded anonymity told the ANSA correspondent in Tehran that Iranian officials were particularly irked by Berlusconi's call for support to the Iranian opposition and summoned ambassador Alberto Bradanini to convey an official protest.

(ANSA) - Rome, February 9 - Premier Silvio Berlusconi suffered permanent physical harm in the attack last December by a mentally unstable man who hit him in the face with a metal statuette after a Milan political rally, medical examiners said Tuesday.

In their report, which may have bearing on the charges facing his attacker, the court-appointed doctors said the premier's broken nose and two chipped teeth had ''permanently impaired his ability to chew''.

(ANSA) - Tehran, February 9 - The Italian ambassador in Tehran has been summoned by the Iranian foreign ministry to receive a formal protests over remarks made by Premier Silvio Berlusconi during a visit to Israel last week.

Informed local sources who demanded anonymity told the ANSA correspondent in Tehran that Iranian officials were particularly referring to Berlusconi's call in support of the Iranian the opposition and had summoned ambassador Alberto Bradanini on Sunday for an official protest.

(ANSA) - Palermo, February 9 - One of Italy's mafia superbosses was entitled to claim legal aid on poverty grounds, a Palermo court ruled on Tuesday.

Justice Salvatore Flaccovio acquitted jailed Mafia head Leoluca Bagarella on charges he had lied in order to claim state-funded legal assistance.

The charges arose from a claim for legal aid made by Bagarella when he was standing trial for mafia-related offences in 2004.

(ANSA) - Pisa, February 9 - A 'happening' with breakdancers, artists, DJs, video projections, food and wine will be staged here February 16 to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of American artist Keith Haring.

The event is being organised by the city to honor the artist whose last public work has his mural 'Tuttomondo', which he painted here in June 1989 on the rear wall of the convent of the Church of Sant'Antonio.

(ANSA) - Verona, February 9 - The northern city of Verona, home to literature's most famous lovers, this week took another step towards embracing the tradition of young couples scrawling their names on the walls of Juliet's House.

After Mayor Flavio Tosi finally gave up a fight to ban the amorous graffiti last summer, British artist Marc Quinn on Monday donated a work to the city that immortalises the scribbling of several hundred visitors to its most romantic palazzo.

(ANSA) - Reggio Calabria, February 9 - Calabrian bishops on Tuesday rejected suggestions that racism caused last month's violent clashes in the town of Rosarno between locals and foreign farmhands.

In a statement, the Calabrian Bishops Conference said its members had ''seen no problems of racism on the part of residents''.

The bishops urged media outlets to take heed, suggesting they were ''always ready to use any incident in Calabria to throw mud at us Calabrians and our region''.

(ANSA) - Rome, February 9 - Around a hundred members of an Iranian pro-government volunteer militia attempted to attack the Italian embassy in Tehran on Tuesday but ere held back by police, according to Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

Frattini said in the Senate that activists of the Basiji had organised a "hostile" demonstration outside the diplomatic mission and then tried to force their way inside, shouting "death to Italy, death to Berlusconi," the Italian premier.

(ANSA) - Rome, February 9 - A Sicilian priest known as a champion for immigrants' rights was among nine people arrested on Tuesday in connection with an alleged residency permit racket.

Police said Father Carlo D'Antoni used his Siracusa church, a popular refuge for the local immigrant community, as a base of operations for a scam charging mainly Nigerian and Chinese women ''large'' sums of money for fake documents they could use to apply for asylum or Italian residency.

(ANSA) - Venice, February 9 - If the international community is unable to block Iran's nuclear ambitions, nuclear weapons could enter into the arsenal of terrorist groups, Israel's ambassador to Italy warned on Tuesday.

Gideon Meir added that "the range of Iranian missiles goes far beyond Israeli territory. And this, together with the undeniable support Iran gives terrorism, objectively makes Iran a threat for the whole world".

(ANSA) - Moscow, February 9 - Fiat will expand its presence in Russia through a new joint venture with Sollers, a holding company with controls carmaker SeverstalAvto, the Russian financial daily Vedomosti reported on Tuesday.

On Thursday, the daily said, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne will be on hand for the signing of a new agreement to assemble the Fiat Linea at the Nabereznie Celni plant in Tatarstan, which already produces Fiat's Albea and Doblo' models.

(ANSA) - Belluno, February 9 - An avalanche last weekend that left one man dead and another severely injured could lead to charges of involuntary manslaughter, prosecutors in the Alpine town of Belluno said Tuesday.

Investigators said they were looking into the possibility the snowslide may have been triggered by the group of three cross-country skiers as they ventured outside the safe limits outlined by mountain authorities.

(ANSA) - Rome, February 9 - The credit crunch caused by the global financial meltdown in 2008 appears to be easing, the Treasury's economic think-tank reported on Tuesday.

The Institute for Economic Study and Analysis (ISAE) said that "gradual but widespread signs of easing of credit for businesses were evident starting in the second half of 2009 and they continued into 2010".

The easing of the credit crunch, ISAE observed, appeared to be a general and widespread trend in all sectors.

(ANSA) - Mexico City, February 9 - Mexico will play a key role in Fiat's expansion on the American market, starting this year with the production of the 500 city car, according to the automaker's chief executive officer, Sergio Marchionne.

Mexico "is in an ideal position in regard to North and South America," Marchionne told the press Monday after giving Mexican President Felipe Calderon a tour of Chrysler's Toluca plant which has been chosen to produce an Americanized version of the Fiat 500 city car.