ROME -- Silvio Berlusconi threatened Saturday to bring down the Italian Government unless President Giorgio Napolitano pardons him from his tax fraud conviction, political sources say.

 ROME -- The Court of Cassation confirmed Thursday Silvio Berlusconi's tax fraud conviction and a 4 year prison term but ordered a new trial to decide how long he will be banned from public office.

 ROME-- Protection of consumer rights still varies greatly between EU countries.

  SALERNO -- At least 38 people were killed when a coach packed with children collided with other vehicles and plunged 100 feet off the Naples-Irpinia motorway, police and rescue workers said.

 ROME-- President of the Community of Sant'Egidio, Marco Impaglizzo, has confirmed the Christian group's availability to work toward the liberation of Kevin Scott Sutay, as publically requested by

ROME – Internet giants Facebook and Amazon took advantage of tax loopholes by paying a total of just 1.2 million euros in Italian tax last year, the newspaper Il Messaggero reports.

ROME – The president of the Community of Sant’Egidio, a Catholic movement started in Rome in 1968, has embarked upon a landmark trip to the Great Lakes region of Africa.

ROME -- Four student dunces from the Liceo Socrate set fire to their school to avenge the fact that their being held back a year, police have confirmed.

ROME – Pirelli chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera has been found guilty of receiving stolen information in a high-profile case of industrial espionage involving Telecom Italia.

ROME- The development of more environmentally friendly ship engines and power plants will receive a further boost thanks to the fourth loan agreement between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and

ROME – Tax police have arrested members of the Ligresti family, former majority owners of the insurance company Fondiaria-SAI, on charges of false accounting and market manipulation.

ROME – Brazil is bracing itself to host the Pope’s first international trip since he was made pontiff in what has been described as the "biggest police operation" in Rio de Janeiro's history.