Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy - World Cup organizers were forced Thursday to call off a third attempt to hold a women's downhill training run as poor weather continued to hamper the meeting in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

The downhill scheduled for Friday on the Olimpia delle Tofana course will now be cancelled as the race cannot be held without a training run.

The race was itself a replacement for a cancelled downhill at Lake Louise, Canada in early December.

Heavy snow had forced organizers to cancel the downhill training runs on Tuesday and Wednesday, while a super giant slalom initially scheduled for Thursday had also been called off.

Rome - AC Milan defender Alessandro Nesta has returned to Italy after a long period spent in the United States to treat a back problem, the Devils web site reported Thursday.

"I'm going to (Milan's camp in) Milanello to start training and when I'm fine I'll play," Nesta said.

The full-back, who turns 33 in March, went to Florida in November to undergo treatment for a lower-back pain that had sidelined him since the summer.

"I suffered for a long time but now I took the problem seriously because there was a way to come out of it," he said.

Turin, Italy - Italian industrial group Fiat reported Thursday a 69.8 per cent drop in its 2008 fourth-quarter profit in the face of a global economic slump which has cut demand for cars, the company's main product.

Turin-based Fiat, which earlier this week announced possible merger plans with US carmaker Chrysler, said net profit in the final quarter fell to 180 million euros (232 million dollars) compared to 597 million euros for the same period in 2007.

Full year profit was down 16.2 per cent from euro 2.05 billion in 2007 to euro 1.72 billion.

Milan - Spectator numbers are on the rise in the Serie A in the first half of the season with an average of 24,825 fans attending matches each weekend, up 2,395 on last year and 5,633 ahead of the 2006/2007 season.

AC Milan top the fan table with an average home attendance of 60,067 spectators, followed by city rivals Inter on 51,637. AS Roma attracted an average of 41 225 while Napoli managed 38,658 and Lazio 36,407.

Rome - Italy's decision to keep hundreds of would-be immigrants in an overcrowded reception centre on a tiny island poses a security and sanitary risk, a spokeswoman for the United Nations' refugee agency warned Wednesday.

Laura Boldrini, of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said the "unsustainable conditions" were due to recent Italian government provisions seeking the immediate repatriation of immigrants entering the country illegally by sea.

Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI in a telegram on Tuesday offered US president-elect Barack Obama prayers that God may grant him "unfailing wisdom and strength" in carrying out his new responsibilities.

"Under your leadership may the American people continue to find in their impressive religious and political heritage the spiritual values and ethical principles needed to cooperate in the building of a truly just and free society," Benedict told Obama just a few hours before the inauguration ceremonies.