Tag: Italy

Italy on Thursday threatened to take Brazil to the International Court of Justice in an angry row after the release of former far-left militant...

Former Italy striker Giuseppe Signori was among 16 people arrested for match-fixing in a co-ordinated sting by Italian police on Wednesday. Amongst those targeted...

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi complained to US President Barack Obama about his legal woes during an informal chat at the G8 summit in...

Italy must reform to boost its slow growth rate, the OECD said, warning that with bond markets jittery and a high debt level that...

MOSCOW - World number three Vera Zvonareva put Russia into the Fed Cup final by beating Italy's Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-2 here on Sunday. That gave the Russians an unassailable 3-0 lead over the defending champions having won both the opening singles on Saturday.
"I took account of my mistakes in the first set and improved on them," Zvonareva said. "I wanted so much to win today in front of our supporters to give our team the deciding point. "I'm happy to win and to put our team

PARIS - Defending champions Italy stood on the verge of elimination from the Fed Cup on Saturday after Russia, inspired by Svetlana Kuznetsova, moved into a comfortable 2-0 lead in their semi-final.
Two-time Grand Slam winner Kuznetsova saw off Roberta Vinci 6-2, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1 in just under two hours, overcoming a second set lapse to motor through the decider after securing two early service breaks. Earlier, world number three Vera Zvonareva blasted Sara Errani 6-0, 6-2 to give

ROME - Flavia Pennetta has been ruled out of Italy's Fed Cup semi-final in Russia on April 16 and 17 because of a shoulder problem, adding to the holders' woes after Francesca Schiavone also pulled out. The duo have been the mainstays of Italy's three Fed Cup triumphs in the last five years but Schiavone is skipping the tie to concentrate on preparing for her French Open title defence and world number 20 Pennetta says she is not fit.
An Italian tennis federation statement on

ROME - More than 130 people were missing and at least 15 appeared to be dead after a boat carrying Eritrean and Somali refugees from Libya capsized south of Sicily early on Wednesday, coast guard officials said.
Rescuers picked up 47 people, including a number of women and children, after the boat, which left Libya two days ago, sank at about 4:00 a.m. (0200 GMT) 40 miles south of the island of Lampedusa. Fifteen bodies had been seen in the water by mid-morning, officials said

ROME - Italy will seek the opinion of other European countries before deciding whether to recognise Libyan rebels as the country's legitimate representatives, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Thursday. Asked whether Italy would follow the French govt's lead on recognising Libya's opposition, Berlusconi told reporters at a press conference in Rome: "It's the view of a single government. "I think it is better for us to listen to the views of the entire European community," he

MILAN - Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Wednesday said he feared an immigrant exodus on a biblical scale if Moamer Gaddafi is ousted, predicting up to 300,000 Libyans could try to flee their country. Italy is already grappling with a mass influx of immigrants from Tunisia since the fall of its veteran ruler but Frattini said that would be nothing compared to the number of immigrants that could flee neighbouring Libya. "There would be an exodus of biblical proportions, a

TUNIS - Tunisia has accused Rome of infringing on its sovereignty after an Italian minister suggested sending police to the north African country to stem the tide of illegal migrants trying to reach Italy. More than 4,000 migrants have crossed the sea from Tunisia to the small Italian island of Lampedusa in the past week, underscoring the lingering instability in Tunisia since protests ousted its president a month ago.
Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief,

SYDNEY - Jarmila Groth marked her first Fed Cup appearance for Australia with a shock win against French Open champion Francesca Schiavone as holders Italy shared the opening singles in their first round tie in Hobart on Saturday.
Groth, who represented Slovakia before taking Australian citizenship in 2009 by marriage, beat the world number four 6-7 6-3 6-3 to give Australia a great start before Samantha Stosur, runner-up to Schiavone in Paris last year, lost a titanic struggle

HOBART - Flavia Pennetta drew double defending champions Italy level in their Fed Cup World Group I tie against Australia with a gutsy victory over the hosts' leading player Samantha Stosur on Saturday. World No.16 Pennetta maintained her edge over the world number five Stosur, winning 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 in over three hours to have the teams level at 1-1 after the opening day in Hobart.
Jarmila Groth gave Australia the early advantage with a spirited comeback victory over

ISLAMABAD - Italy will provide a soft loan of 40 million euros to Pakistan for poverty reduction by rural development activities in Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
Italian Ambassador Vincenzo Prati and Economic Affairs Secretary Sibtain Fazal Halim signed the loan-agreement on Friday in Islamabad.
The loan is being provided under the pledge made at the Tokyo conference and the financing will be utilised by the Pakistan Poverty

ISLAMABAD: Italy has agreed to waive Pakistan's total bilateral debt by swapping half of it for expenditure incurred on Afghan refugees, while the remaining amount of debts of $26.52 million and 58.74 million euros will be swapped for the jointly-agreed social and developmental projects under Debt for Development Swap Agreement in 2006. According to a press released issued by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, the debt swap agreement between the two governments was reached on the

ROME: The expected release of classified US documents by Wikileaks will be the "9/11 of world diplomacy", Italy's foreign minister said on Sunday, urging Italian prosecutors to investigate the whistle-blowing website.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, on a trip to Qatar, said he did not know the content of the files to be released but warned they would "blow up the relationship of trust between states", according to Italian news agencies. "It will be the September 11th of world

An Italian region struggling with policing the sex trade along a heavily wooded road has come up with a novel solution: Just chop down the forest.
The regional government of Abruzzo in central Italy has tried 24-hour patrols, raids and cameras to curb the rampant sex trade on the Bonifica del Tronto road -- all to no effect.
Finally, Angelo di Paolo, the regional government's notoriously decisive public works chief, decided that fighting the forest would be much easier then