Italy news - news headlines from around the web, refreshed every 15 minutes

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Italy: increase in export with EU countries
The balance of trade with EU countries is positive for 690 million euros. In September, exports grew mainly with Greece , Poland and Austria , while exports with Spain and United Kingdom were in decrease.

Cleveland Museum of Art returns looted, stolen Italian artifacts
The Cleveland Museum of Art agreed yesterday to return 14 ancient treasures ranging from Etruscan jewelry to a Medieval cross that authorities say were looted or stolen from Italy.

Italy's government weighs Alitalia offer
The deal to relaunch Alitalia as a leaner, more efficient carrier entered a final stage with the delivery Wednesday of the formal offer from a group of Italian investors to the bankrupt airline's administrator.

Cheeky Catanians "Drop Your Shorts" Tactic Beats Torino
Catania soccer team perfected a free-kick routine which requires three of their players to stand midway between the free-kick taker and the goalkeeper and lower their shorts to their knees, preventing the keeper from seeing the ball get kicked. It proved vital as Catania won the game 3-2.

Israel Organized Crime Rivals Italy
Although Organized Crime is well documented in Italy , and each incident seems to drive international journalists into a frenzy, Organized Crime in other countries seems to be given little attention.

Berlusconi says no auto aid for now
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are taking a wait-and-see posture on aid to the auto industries that power both economies, while closely watching moves in the United ...

Minister Renato Brunetta has Become a Folk Hero, with his Anti-Slacker Campaign
Minister of Public Functions Renato Brunetta has become a folk hero in Italy for his vow to modernize government offices and expel idlers among the 3.6 million public workers.

Pharmacies Agree To Translate Drug Instructions
Two major pharmacy chains have agreed to translate prescription drug instructions into customers' primary languages in more than 2,000 stores across New York.

Bond, All Knotted Up
It took two men to kill James Bond: Austin Powers and Jason Bourne.At least that's the impression left by 'Quantum of Solace,' the newest and most joyless installment of one of cinema's most venerable franchises. In his breakout 2006 performance as 007 in 'Casino Royale,' Daniel Craig proved an able successor to the man who defined the role, Sean Connery. In its sequel, all the dash and elan of that film has disappeared, leaving Bond as little more than a deranged, if well-dressed, serial killer.

Italy fights mob terror near Naples
The paratroopers' armored vehicles had barely taken up position in this fiefdom of the Casalesi crime clan when the mobsters decided to show who was boss.On a sleepy Sunday, a few hundred yards from where the crack Thunderbolt brigade was deployed with automatic rifles, two gunmen drove down the town's main street and pumped bullets into a 60-year-old man at a table just inside the entrance of a card parlor.The murder of an uncle of a crime syndicate turncoat left blood oozing across the stone sidewalk and a collective silence by potential witnesses among fellow card players, prompting a wry comment that the victim must have been playing solitaire.