Italian police have launched dawn raids in Milan, targeting about 20 people suspected of recruiting suicide bombers for attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, the ANSA news agency reported.

Sicilian Mafia boss Salvatore Lo Piccolo, considered to be one of the successors of the former "boss of bosses" Bernardo Provenzano (arrested in April 2006), was arrested at 9:30 a.m. CET (UTC+1) in a villa in Giardinello, between Cinisi and Terrasini on Sicily. He had been on the run since 1983. His son Sandro Lo Piccolo and two other top mafiosi, Gaspare Pulizzi and Andrea Adamo, were arrested as well. All four men were among Italy's top 30 most wanted Mafia suspects, according to police officials.

Most people search online to find the answer of the question "What is the capital of Italy" shows the lowest point the knowledge of primitive geography has fallen.

La Stampa is one of Italy's best-known and most widely sold Italian daily newspapers. The article talks about the cruel past of the Armenian people who were massacred by the Ottoman Empire and forced to march in the hot deserts.

A third division soccer club of Italy was praised by Pope Benedict XVI for ports signing on to a program by a Christian sorganization that seeks to promote ethics in soccer.

Lawyers representing various family members of late Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti deny that there are differences over his will, despite local media reports.

The rising food costs – especially on precious pasta - made Italians organize nationwide protests Thursday. The price of basic commodities are being driven up by middlemen, while farmers and producers earnings remain flat, activists said at protests in Rome, Milan and Palermo.

Italian Government will award opera star Luciano Pavarotti for his work promoting Italian culture in his country and abroad. The 71-year-old tenor, who has been fighting pancreatic cancer, is the first recipient of the prize, the Culture Ministry said in a statement Tuesday. No date has been set for the award ceremony.

A Special Exhibition of Italian Shoes in Bryant Park

Italian energy giant Eni SpA will raise the royalties paid to the Kazakhstan government from the Kashagan oilfield project to 20-25 pct in an effort to break the disputes with the government.

Luciano Pavarotti was hospitalized for observation in his hometown of Modena, in northern Italy, hospital officials there said. Opera star was brought to Modena's Polyclinic two days ago, said manager Terri Robson. Earlier, a hospital spokesman had said Pavarotti was admitted Wednesday.

Great Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni died aged 94 in his native city of Ferrara late Monday, the Italian media reported Tuesday. The modernist film director received numerous awards and a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award in 1994.