Italy News

(ANSA) - Cesena, November 18 - Juventus's Brazilian striker Amauri still has a shot at making Italy's World Cup squad, coach Marcello Lippi said Wednesday.

Amauri, 29, recently confirmed his interest in an Italy berth once he becomes an Italian citizen in March.

"I still have to complete the squad and I see no reason not to look at players I haven't been able to consider for one reason or another," Lippi told Italian state TV.

(ANSA) - Perugia, November 18 - Rudy Guede, the 'third man' in the Meredith Kercher murder case, on Wednesday appealed his 30-year conviction for the 2007 rape and murder of the British exchange student in this Umbrian town.

The 22-year-old Ivory Coast national claimed he saw Amanda Knox, a US student who is in a high-profile separate trial with her Italian ex-boyfriend, fleeing the murder scene with a man he could not identify.

Earlier, he alleged, he had heard Knox and Kercher arguing about money from the bathroom of the house the two women shared.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 18 - Premier Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday dismissed talk of early elections because of rifts in his centre-right coalition.

"I'm amazed over all these rumours which are spreading making it seem that we are heading towards early elections. I've never given it a thought," said the premier in a statement released by his office.

"We've received an electoral mandate to govern for the entire five years of the legislature and this is the commitment which we are determined to carry through in the country's interest".

(ANSA) - Arezzo, November 18 - Three out of ten Italians don't wash their hands properly, health experts said Wednesday ahead of a conference on disease prevention in Tuscany.

Considered the most effective way to stop the spread of infectious diseases, including the H1N1 flu virus, proper hand washing takes between 60 and 90 seconds and requires enough hand soap or antiseptic to work up a thick, microbe-killing lather.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 18 - Italian confectioner Ferrero confirmed on Wednesday that it was considering joining American chocolate titan Hershey in a joint bid to acquire Britain's Cadbury.

In a statement released at the London Stock Exchange, the maker of Ferrero Rochet pralines and Nutella spread said it was "in the preliminary stages of evaluating its options in regard to Cadbury".

Should it come about, the bid would be made with American chocolate titan Hershey, which also released a statement to say that it was "reviewing its options and at this stage there can be no assurance that any proposal or offer will be forthcoming".

(ANSA) - Rome, November 18 - Italian confectioner Ferrero confirmed on Wednesday that it was considering joining American chocolate titan Hershey in a joint bid to acquire Britain's Cadbury.

In a statement released at the London Stock Exchange, the maker of Ferrero Rochet pralines and Nutella spread said it was "in the preliminary stages of evaluating its options in regard to Cadbury".

(ANSA) - Rome, November 18 - Over 1.7 million children in Italy are living in poverty, according to a report by Save the Children released Wednesday.

Compiled for a United Nations dossier leading up to International Children's Day on November 20, the report estimated that one in five Italians living beneath the poverty line are under the age of 18.

Over 61% of poor children in Italy are under 11 years old and over 72% live in the country's economically flagging south.

(ANSA) - Ankara, November 18 - The European Union's credibility hinges on it concluding accession talks with Turkey, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said here on Wednesday.

Speaking at the University of Ankara, the head of state added that "to retreat now on that formal decision in 2005 to open accession talks would undermine the EU's credibility and not only in the eyes of Turkey and its people".

(ANSA) - Padua, November 18 - Graffiti writers who deface public buildings should be doing amends by being forced to replicate their scribblings on the walls of their homes, the mayor of a town near Padua said on Wednesday.

Vigonza Mayor Nunzio Tacchetto told the local daily Il Gazzettino he is preparing an ordinance which will not only slap hefty fines but will see graffiti writers doing penance by spending a month reprising their creations inside their homes.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 17 - Some 75% of Italians this Christmas will buy domestic goods to put under the tree, a much higher percentage than in other countries, where an average of 59% buy national products for the holidays, the Coldiretti farmers union said on Wednesday.

The finding was part of a report called 'Xmas 2009 Survey' by the Deloitte research group which was presented at a seminar here entitled 'The Real Made in Italy is a Boost to Business and the Nation'.

(ANSA) - Riace, November 18 - A boat carrying 122 Kurdish immigrants was intercepted on Wednesday by coastal authorities off the southwestern coast of Italy.

Officials said the boat was driven aground after trying to escape a coast guard patrol and that a number of the immigrants aboard leapt into the water in an attempt to escape.

All of the passengers, however, were recovered and brought safely to shore, including ten small children and a pair of two-month-old babies.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 18 - A 58-year-old Calabria man with diabetes and lung disease on Wednesday became the 68th person in Italy to die with the H1N1 flu virus.

The flu's death doll has been rising steadily in recent weeks with the drop in temperatures and approach of flu season, according to the health ministry, which estimated that over 1.5 million Italians have been infected by the virus so far, up from 500,000 at the beginning of the month.

Projections from the ministry's pandemic surveillance network say the virus is spreading at rate of 15,000 new cases per week.

(ANSA) - Vatican City, November 18 - The Vatican is commemorating the extraordinary life of a 16th-century Italian mathematician and missionary who settled in China, with a new exhibition marking 400 years since his death.

The event at the Vatican Museum pays tribute to Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), a Jesuit priest and academic who spent most of his adult life in China and eventually became a member of the court of Ming Emperor Wanli.

(ANSA) - Vatican City, November 18 - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday called for the respect of the rights and dignity of children in an appeal marking the United Nations Children's Day later this week.

"My thoughts reach out to all the children in the world, especially those living in difficult conditions and suffering because of violence, abuse, illness, war and famine," said the German pontiff.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 17 - Italy's Giulio Tremonti was voted the fifth best finance minister in the European Union on Tuesday by London business daily, the Financial Times.

Ranked against counterparts in the 19 biggest economies in the European Union, Tremonti's strong showing derived from his handling of Italy's ''notoriously wayward public finances'' during the global economic downturn.