Rome  - Lazio edged out visiting Palermo 1-0 Saturday in a game that the Sicilian guests ended with ten men at Rome's Stadio Olimpico.

Veteran Tommaso Rocchi came on in the second half to score the winner, deflecting home a low cross from Frenchman Mourad Meghni.

The win allowed Lazio to end a bad run that saw them notch two meagre points in five games. It moved on to sixth place on 27 points as the Serie A gears up for a three-week winter break after its 17th round.

Val Gardena, Italy - Werner Heel of Italy made the most of favourable wind conditions during his run to win a super-g on Friday in which third-placed Swede Patrick Jaerbyn became the oldest podium finisher in World Cup history.

Heel, 26, clocked 1 minute 35.04 seconds in front of a home crowd to claim his second career win.

Didier Defago of Switzerland was second in 1:35.47 and Jaerbyn, who turns 40 in April, came third on the demanding Saslong piste in 1:35.49.

Rome - Centuries after their blood-sport was banned, duelling gladiators in full combat gear could soon be making a comeback in the most famous fight arena of them all - Rome's Colosseum.

"Rather than enshrine (historical sites) we need to make them more spectacular," says the Italian capital's archaeological superintendent Umberto Broccoli, whose brainchild the idea is.

More than 1,500 years since the last recorded gladiator bout in Rome, it is still possible to meet near the Colosseum, men - and some women too - clad in armour and brandishing replica swords and spears.

Rome - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says he has surprised his grandchildren with an early Christmas present: a Superman-like doll with facial features resembling his own.

"My grandchildren now really feel like the descendants of a super- hero," Berlusconi was quoted as saying Thursday by the online site, Tgcom.

Rome  - Serie A giants AC Milan announced Wednesday that they will officially introduce English star David Beckham Saturday evening at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium.

Beckham is to remain at Milan until March, on loan from US club Los Angeles Galaxy.

The 33-year-old midfielder is expected to undergo medical tests over the weekend and watch Milan's home game Sunday against Udinese ahead of the Serie A winter break.

Palermo, Sicily - A Sicilian mafia boss caught in a massive police sweep against "Cosa Nostra" has been found hanged in a prison cell just hours after his arrest.

The 52-year-old Gaetano Lo Presti was among more than 90 mafiosi nabbed during police raids in Sicily and Tuscany on Tuesday.

An investigation was underway Wednesday on how Lo Presti managed to commit what appears to have been a suicide in Palermo's Pagliarelli prison late on Tueday night, officials said.