ROME - Claudio Scajola, Minister for Industry in Berlusconi’s government, has been placed under investigation on charges of corruption in supplying navy frigates to Brazil.

ROME – Six seismologists and one government official received prison sentences for failing to adequately warn of the danger of the 2009 Aquila earthquake.

 CALATAFIMI, Sicily - The tree was gnarled and had divided into four over the years or centuries, as all respectable olive trees do in the Mediterranean and as all readers of Homer, who abound as w

ROME- Silvio Berlusconi denied ever having sex with 17-year-old ‘Ruby’ at his trial in Milan. He is accused of having resorted to prostitution.

ROME - Concordia Captain Francesco Schettino still claims his actions saved lives during the cruise ship disaster as investigations into the tragedy proceeded Thursday.

Seven guns and over 250 cartridges were found in a church in Naples.

ROME- On Wednesday Alitalia announced its plan to make 690 of its employees redundant in another attempt to reduce the debt plaguing the company.

ROME - Majid Barzegar’s film Parviz, centering on power and its destructiveness in the hands of those unprepared for it, has won Asiatica film festival’s 2012 NETPAC award.

ROME - Forty-four illegal immigrants, including one minor, were found along the 106 motorway near Roccella Ionica in Calabria.

ROME - The Fiat managing director, Sergio Marchionne, caused outcry as he lashed out at Florence first citizen Matteo Renzi, calling him the “mayor of a small and poor town.”

ROME-- The entire City Council of Reggio Calabria has been dismissed, accused of direct links with the mafia.

ROME -- The Maria Grazia Cutuli Foundation is offering a prize to journalists of merit who work in zones of crisis or war.

ROME -- The World-Wide Catholic Reform Networks celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the second Vatican Council by calling for dialogue between the Catholic Church and the people.

ROME -- Yesterday, the Democratic Party (PD) was supposed to have unveiled the way that they will choose the leader of the centre-left coalition for the next elections due in spring.

LEGHORN -- Two of four members of crew of the cruise ship MSC Orchestra diagnosed with meningitis are in a critical condition.

AGRIGENTO – Accused of associations with the mafia, drug trafficking and dealing, illegal possession of weapons, kidnapping for extortion and other charges, 32 people were arrested in the Sicilian

Rome—An African woman smokes a cigarette reclining on a pile of rubbish and oblivious to the rats that climb over her body.

ROME - Not for the first time, a stadium is at the heart of a row in Serie A.

ROME--The chief executive of the Lazio regional government, Renata Polverini, resigned yesterday, a resignation without honour.

ROME-OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría and Prime Minister Mario Monti will address a major conference on structural reform in Italy September 24 at the Sala Poli

ROME- Ahlstrom, a high performance materials company, will invest into additional capacity in filtration materials at its site in Turin.

ROME -- The buzz is all about what sort of government Italy will have after the elections and the very unsecret consensus is that it will be Monti again –- either as prime minister or heading anoth

ROME- The American University of Rome's (AUR) International Relations department will host "The Italian Labyrinth 2: The Challenges of Politics and the Economy during the lead-up to the Elections"