Politics News Event

(See related story on site) (ANSA) - Rome, February 8 - Forza Italia has never had any connection with the Mafia, Justice Minister Angelino Alfano said Monday, denying claims by a state's witness that the party launched by Premier Silvio Berlusconi in the early 1990s grew out of talks between the state and Cosa Nostra.

''This is an attempt to discredit the government, which has always been on the front lines in the fight against the Mafia,'' he said.

(ANSA) - Accra, February 8 - Interior Minister Roberto Maroni met with his Ghanese counterpart Cletus Awoka on Monday to discuss ways of stemming illegal immigration to Italy and countering drug smuggling.

Maroni said Italy had a number of bilateral agreements on these issues with the African countries bordering on the Mediterranean - including Egypt, Marocco and Libya - but was keen to broaden such accords with sub-Saharan countries like Ghana and Niger.

(ANSA) - Rome, February 8 - Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno warned on Monday that litterbugs and graffiti writers will face stiff fines if they don't clean-up their act.

The city has launched an awareness campaign to give residents - and presumably tourists too - an advance warning before municipal police start handing out fines.

"I rang up the municipal police chief on Sunday asking him to put his men on the alert. These rules have to be enforced," said Alemanno.

(ANSA) - Palermo, February 8 - A party launched by Premier Silvio Berlusconi at the outset of his political career grew out of talks between Cosa Nostra and the state, a prosecutor's witness claimed Monday in statements that a top Mafia expert later said were 'higly dubious'.

Massimo Ciancimino, son of the late Palermo Mayor, is on the stand in the trial of former domestic intelligence chief Mario Mori, who is accused of letting super boss Bernardo Provenzano escape in 1995.

(ANSA) - Rome, February 8 - Forza Italia has never had any connection with the Mafia, Justice Minister Angelino Alfano said Monday in response to claims by a state's witness that the party launched by Premier Silvio Berlusconi in the early 1990s grew out of talks between the state and Cosa Nostra.

''This is an attempt to discredit the government, which has always been on the front lines in the fight against the Mafia,'' he said.

(ANSA) - Rome, February 8 - Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno warned on Monday that litterbugs and graffiti writers will face stiff fines if they don't clean-up their act.

The city has launched an awareness campaign to give residents - and presumably tourists too - an advance warning before municipal police start handing out fines.

"I rang up the municipal police chief on Sunday asking him to put his men on the alert. These rules have to be enforced," said Alemanno.

(ANSA) - Palermo, February 8 - Claims linking the rise of Premier Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party in the early 1990s to an alleged dialogue between the state and Cosa Nostra are highly dubious, a leading mafia expert said Monday.

''I don't believe a word of it,'' said Pino Arlacchi, an MEP for the opposition Italy of Values Party (Idv) and co-founder of the Italian anti-mafia police.

(ANSA) - Treviso, February 8 - A contested bill on living wills will probably be approved by parliament with part of the opposition's support before the summer, Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi said on Monday.

He said it was very likely, in view of amendments to the bill, that some opposition MPs will back the measure.

The living wills bill has recently moved from the Senate to the House, where Speaker Gianfranco Fini said he hoped it would be amended from the highly restrictive draft that bans removing feeding tubes.

(ANSA) - Rome, February 8 - Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini and United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday agreed on the need for the international community to step up pressure on and dissuade Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

A statement from the foreign ministry said Frattini and Gates also agreed on the need for tougher sanctions on that country given the "destabilising prospect of Iran as a nuclear power".

Aside from Iran, the two ministers examined security issues in Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa.

(ANSA) - Palermo, February 8 - The political party launched by Premier Silvio Berlusconi was a product of dialogue between the Mafia and the state, the son of Palermo's former mayor claimed Monday.

''My father told me that Forza Italia was the result of these so-called talks between the government and Cosa Nostra,'' said Massimo Ciancimino while testifying in the trial of former domestic intelligence chief accused of letting superboss Bernardo Provenzano escape in 1995.

(ANSA) - Rome, February 8 - The government has received "eight to ten" offers to take over the Sicilian plant where Fiat intends to end automobile production at the end of next year, Industry Minister Claudio Scajola said on Monday.

These offers, he added, will be examined on March 5 when government, Fiat and union representatives resume talks on the future of Termini Imerese, near Palermo.

According to the minister, a key point in evaluating the offers will be whether they ensure employment levels in the economically depressed area.

(ANSA) - Rome, February 8 - Iran must end its policy of seeking to buy time with the international community while pushing forward with its nuclear ambitions, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Monday.

According to the foreign minister, the international community must not allow Iran to constantly change its position on enriching uranium at home, as Tehran appears to prefer, or sending it abroad for enrichment, as demanded by the United Nations.

(ANSA) - Rome, February 8 - The cabinet on Wednesday will definitively approve the guidelines and criteria to be used in choosing sites for future nuclear power plants, Industry Minister Claudio Scajola said on Monday.

Speaking on a morning TV news show, the minister added that "from that moment on the construction companies will be able to choose the most adequate sites and once this is done I think within two years the necessary authorisations should be granted.

(ANSA) - Milan, February 5 - Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia's controversial endorsement of McDonald's new all-Italian hamburger in Rome last week will see an encore performance on Monday at a franchise on the outskirts of Milan.

''The McItaly is made with 100% Italian ingredients and represents a huge opportunity for Italian farmers,'' the minister said on Friday.

''That's why I've decided to follow up on my visit to the historic flagship McDonald's in Rome with a second presentation in Milan''.

(ANSA) - Rome, February 5 - United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrives in the Italian capital on Saturday for talks with Premier Silvio Berlusconi, Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa and Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, the foreign ministry confirmed on Friday.

Gates will arrive in the morning from Istanbul, following an informal meeting of NATO defense ministers there.

He will meet with Berlusconi Saturday afternoon at the premier's office.