Italy
Rome mayor plans traffic revolution near ancient Colosseum
ROME - Less than two months in office, the mayor of Rome is promising a minor revolution in the Italian capital and risking the ire of local motorists by closing the area around the ancient imperial forum complex to traffic.
Generali says won't sell BSI if price not right
MILAN/LONDON - Italian insurer Generali SpA is still looking for buyers for its Swiss private banking business BSI, but won't sell if the price isn't right, company executives said on Thursday.
Italy's top court to issue verdict on Berlusconi fraud appeal
ROME - Five supreme court judges on Thursday considered their verdict in Silvio Berlusconi's appeal against a tax fraud conviction that could end his 20-year domination of Italian politics and throw the government into turmoil if confirmed. | Video
Finmeccanica says still talking on asset sales
MILAN - Italy's Finmeccanica is still in talks to sell non-core assets, likely to include transport and energy businesses, despite long delays that have frustrated investors and prompted credit rating downgrades, its chief executive said on Thursday.
Berlusconi awaits his judgment
FLORENCE - Waiting for the judgment on Silvio Berlusconi is more nerve-racking than waiting for Godot, but should be over sooner.
Berlusconi lawyers ask supreme court to acquit him of tax fraud
ROME - Lawyers for Silvio Berlusconi asked the supreme court on Wednesday to throw out a tax fraud conviction against the former prime minister in a case that could decide not only his future but that of Italy's fragile coalition government.
No proof of bribery in Monte Paschi Antonveneta deal: prosecutor
SIENA - Italian prosecutors investigating Monte dei Paschi's costly acquisition of a smaller rival in 2007 have found no evidence that bribery was involved, they said on Wednesday.
U.S. ruling may step up Fiat's Chrysler buyout settlement
MILAN - Fiat may step up efforts to negotiate a full buyout of majority-owned Chrysler out of court, sources said, after a Delaware judge prolonged the Italian carmaker's legal tussle with a minority shareholder, the UAW union healthcare trust.
JP Morgan under investigation in Monte Paschi probe: document
SIENA/MILAN - Italian prosecutors probing Monte dei Paschi's 2007 acquisition of a smaller rival are investigating U.S. investment bank JP Morgan over an alleged crime committed by one of its employees, according to a prosecutors' document.
Berlusconi lawyers press supreme court to acquit him of tax fraud
ROME - Lawyers for Silvio Berlusconi asked the supreme court on Wednesday to throw out a tax fraud conviction against the former prime minister in a case that may decide not only his future but that of Italy's fragile coalition government.
Explosion in Syrian city of Homs kills 40: monitoring group
BEIRUT - Forty people were killed and at least 120 people were wounded in an explosion at a weapons cache in the central Syrian city of Homs on Thursday, a group opposed to President Bashar al-Assad said. | Video
Ethiopia and Eritrea: An elusive peace on the cards?
Ethiopia and Eritrea are still at each others’ throats. The two neighbours fought hammer and tongs in sun-baked trenches during a two-year war over a decade ago, before a peace deal ended their World War I-style conflict in 2000. Furious veRed Sea, UNrbal battles, however, have continued to this day.


