Politics News Event

(ANSA) - Rome, November 5 - A trial against an ex-Nazi officer for the WWII execution of Italian soldiers on the Greek island of Kefalonia was annulled Thursday because of the defendant's death in Germany this summer.

The judge at a military court in Rome called off the preliminary hearing after verifying that ex-lieutenant Ottmar Muhlhauser died at his Munich home in July.

(ANSA) - Reggio Calabria, November 5 - Every town and city in the southern region of Calabria is in danger of flooding and mudslides, environmental group Legambiente said Thursday.

Delivering its flood-risk assessment for the region, the group said that every community surveyed had houses, hospitals, schools or industry in areas prone to flooding.

''Nearly half of these communities have whole neighborhoods on flood plains, river banks or gorges,'' Legambiente said.

(ANSA) - Brescia, November 5 - A dozen commuters were slightly hurt in a train crash in northern Italy Thursday.

The 12, on their way to work and school in Brescia, were hospitalised with bruises and concussion after their train hit the engine of a goods train head-on.

Rail officials said the incident might have been worse if the driver had not used an emergency brake.

A centre-left opposition party, Italy of Values, said Transport Minister Altero Matteoli should report to parliament on the case.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 5 - Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Thursday he sympathised with the United States' disappointment at a Milan court's Tuesday conviction of CIA agents in the rendition of an Egyptian cleric in 2003.

Frattini said he sympathised with US concerns but noted that the Italian government had obtained a state secrecy injunction in the case that resulted in three CIA operatives obtaining immunity.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 5 - Four Italian soldiers were slightly wounded on Thursday in western Afghanistan when their armoured car was targeted by what appeared to be a roadside bomb, defense ministry sources said.

The incident took place just after 02:30GMT while Italian troops were on ''operative reconnaissance'' in the Zeerko Valley, an area not new to such attacks, some 20km from the town of Shindand.

The explosion seriously damaged the Lynx vehicle but it remained intact.

(by Denis Greenan.)

(ANSA) - Milan, November 4 - An Italian judge on Wednesday convicted 22 CIA agents and a US Air Force colonel in absentia for the abduction of a Milan-based Egyptian cleric in 2003.

In the first, long-awaited verdict on the controversial US practice of 'extraordinary rendition', they received sentences ranging from five to eight years.

But the top US defendant, former CIA Milan station chief Jeff Castelli, saw his diplomatic immunity plea granted.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 4 - Street crimes are down, mafia arrests are up and seizures of goods owned by organized crime have tripled since the government took office 18 months ago, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni announced Wednesday.

Delivering a report on the state of public safety in Italy, Maroni said police had confiscated over 5.37 billion euros from the mafia this year, a threefold increase on 2007.

Over 700 million euros of that money is earmarked for the war against organized crime, Maroni added, and will become available next year.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 4 - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev arrives in Rome on Wednesday for a three-day visit which he says will usher in a ''new phase'' in relations between his country and Italy.

Speaking to ANSA ahead of his visit, Nazarbayev said ''we hope to open a new phase in relations between Kazakhstan and Italy, relations which are already positive thanks to the fresh emphasis placed on them by (Italian) Premier Silvio Berlusconi''.

(ANSA) - Locri, November 4 - The head of an 'Ndrangheta clan involved in a headline-grabbing 2007 gangland slaying in Germany died in prison Wednesday.

Calabrian godfather Antonio Pelle, 77, boss of the clan of the same name in the small village of San Luca, had been in jail since his arrest four months ago after nine years on the run.

Pelle apparently died of a heart attack in the high-security jail in this town in the southern Italian region, prison sources said.

(ANSA) - Modena, November 4 - Police in Modena on Wednesday seized over one million euros of balsamic vinegar produced in violation of the traditional recipe.

According to police, the batch of 161,000 litres was bottled without first being aged in wooden casks for two months, a fundamental requirement for the internationally protected label.

Police said the 323,000 confiscated bottles would be relabled and distributed as simple salad dressing.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 4 - Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno on Wednesday said he intended to impose mandatory drug testing for all city government officials and people with institutional responsibility.

''As far as I'm concern these tests should be obligatory for everyone in municipal, provincial and regional government as a guarantee for all citizens,'' Alemanno added.

''In fact, the tests should also be carried out on all MPs and government ministers, as well,'' the mayor said.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 3 - Over 1,200 judges, jurists and lawyers signed a petition to President Giorgio Napolitano on Tuesday expressing concern about Premier Silvio Berlusconi's criticism of the judiciary as a possible ''threat to democracy''.

According to the statement, ''the numerous accusations by the premier and other government members of political partisanship in court rulings'' led signers to fear for ''the fate of justice and democracy in Italy''.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 3 - Justice Minister Angelino Alfano on Tuesday promised the death of a 31-year-old man from injuries and severe dehydration following seven days in police custody would be investigated fully.

Addressing the Senate, Alfano said ''every effort possible would be made to identify who was responsible'' for the death of Stefano Cucchi last month, ''either by acting or by failing to act''.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 3 - Italy has appealed a landmark European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling against crucifixes in Italian classrooms that sparked a storm Tuesday in this heavily Catholic country.

The appeal was announced by Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini who stressed that crosses were ''a symbol of Italian tradition'' and did not signify affiliation to the Catholic Church.

(ANSA) - Brussels, November 3 - Italy's new opposition leader Pierluigi Bersani said a European court ruling against crosses in Italian schools trumped common sense.

''I think that on delicate issues like this, sometimes common sense falls victim to the law,'' said Bersani, who was recently elected head of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).

''I think a longstanding tradition like the crucifix can't be offensive to anyone,'' said Bersani, a former Communist.