Rome  - Inter Milan stretched their lead in the Italian Serie A Saturday courtesy of a 2-1 victory over Bologna in a slow-paced game that allowed Jose Mourinho's side conserve some energy for this week's Champions League clash with Manchester United.

Argentine Esteban Cambiasso and substitute Mario Balotelli scored in the second half to sink the central-Italy hosts, who managed to briefly equalize but lie now just above the drop zone.

The win moves Inter 12 points clear of Juventus, who have the chance to reduce the gap when they visit Sicily side Palermo in a night game.

Tarvisio, Italy - Germany's Gina Stechert claimed a surprise alpine ski World Cup downhill win when she edged overall leader Lindsey Vonn of the United States in Tarvisio on Saturday.

Stechert, 21, clocked 1 minute 59.94 seconds to beat double world champion Vonn by one-hundredth of a second for her maiden World Cup victory.

Sweden's Anja Paerson was third, 0.39 seconds behind Stechert whose best previous finish was fourth in the downhill at Lake Louise, Canada on December 5.

Tarvisio, Italy - Slalom world champion Maria Riesch of Germany won the women's super combined ahead of overall leader Lindsey Vonn of the United States in Tarvisio on Friday.

Sweden's Anja Paerson clinched the discipline title after the three super-combined events of the season by finishing fifth.

Riesch was 0.76 seconds behind double world champion Vonn after the downhill leg but a superb slalom run gave her a combined time of 2 minutes 18.57 seconds and a 0.49-second advantage over the American with

Rome - Italy's conservative government introduced Friday harsher penalties for rape and other sexual abuse cases, the creation of civilian anti-crime patrols and an extension to the period for which illegal immigrants can be kept in detention centres.

The measures contained in a decree approved by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's cabinet, come in the wake of several high profile gang-rape cases.

Brussels - The European Union's executive fears that an Italian plan to support the car industry could break EU rules, officials in Brussels said Friday, just days after they raised similar concerns over French and Spanish plans.

"As far as the Italian measures are concerned, we do have some concerns," European Commission competition spokesman Jonathan Todd told journalists in Brussels.

The commission "will be writing to the Italian authorities today, and we will ask them for detailed information on this system, to be provided within five working days," he said.

Rome - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his British counterpart, Gordon Brown, reiterated Thursday their commitment to free trade and said the current economic crisis must not "pull back" the process of globalization.

"Protectionist measures reduce growth throughout the world, they deprive us of the benefits of global trade and confine to poverty millions of people," the two said in a joint statement.

The statement was posted on the Italian government's website ahead of talks between Berlusconi and Brown in Rome on Thursday.