Italy News

Beirut - An Italian ex-senator and ally of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi who was arrested in Lebanon at the weekend was hospitalised in Beirut on Wednesday, his lawyer said.

Rome - Riot police dragged away some 350 squatter families from abandoned offices in Rome amid violent clashes on Wednesday -- the latest in a rising tide of forced evictions in Italy fuelled by the economic crisis.

Rome - Italian drinks company Campari on Tuesday announced it was buying the owner of the Averna digestif brand in a 103.75 million euro ($143.34 million) deal and said it hoped for a boost from new trends in the United States.

Rome - The Italian cruise ship captain on trial for murder after the sinking of the Costa Concordia in early 2012 said on the night of the fateful accident that he believed he had hit only "a little rock", a court heard Monday.

- While he may not be widely known internationally, Pope John XXIII holds a special place in the heart of many Italians and nowhere more so than in his homeland of Bergamo where he was born into a farming family.

Rome - A woman who underwent fertility treatment at a clinic in Rome became pregnant with the twins of another couple after their embryos were mixed up, press reports said Sunday.

Rome - An ex-senator friend of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was arrested on Saturday in Lebanon where he was on the run over charges of mafia ties, the Italian interior ministry announced.

Rome - Police fired tear gas and made a number of arrests in Rome on Saturday as an anti-government protest turned violent, leaving several injured, according to medics and an AFP photographer.

Turin - Italy's new prime minister on Saturday blasted what he called a European Union of austerity and bankers, as he kicked off his party's campaign for next month's European elections.

Rome - Italy has rescued 896 migrants crossing the Mediterranean by boat overnight, the navy said on Friday, after the government warned of an "emergency" caused by a surge in new arrivals.