Rome - A few years ago, la Repubblica columnist Vittorio Zucconi wrote that only madmen would continue calling the Italian Serie A the best league in the world. Time proved the veteran journalist to be right and today, despite a fourth World Cup won in 2006, it is hard to find someone who feels like comparing Italy's top flight with that of England or Spain where the best players in the world tend to go these days.

Syracuse, Italy - European environment ministers Thursday urged the United States to show leadership and spell out its plans for cutting greenhouse gas emission.

Danish Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard, who will chair a key United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen in December, said the move would encourage other big polluters such as China to follow suit.

Rome/Berlin - Investigators in Italy and Germany were worried Thursday about the whereabouts of a German couple who had abandoned three children at a pizza restaurant in northern Italy.

Police continued their search for the 26-year-old mother and her 24-year-old male companion, who have not been seen since telling the children Sunday that they were going outside to smoke a cigarette.

L'Aquila, Italy - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi wants to switch the venue of July's G8 summit to L'Aquila, the Medieval town ravaged by an earthquake, in a gesture of solidarity, it was announced Thursday.

The meeting of heads of government from the world's richest countries is currently planned to take place on La Maddalena, a small island off Sardinia.

Milan - Some 150 refugees from Africa demanding housing and jobs have interrupted the Milan Furniture and Design Fair with sitdown protests and demonstrations, Italian media reported Thursday.

The action came after police evicted around 300 refugees from a block of flats they had occupied.

Some of the mainly political refugees from war zones such as Eritrea and Somalia found accommodation in church institutions. Around 150 continued their protest.

London, Apr 23 : Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has brought some pretty girls with a background in showbusiness into his Cabinet to brighten up politics.

Berlusconi has chosen Angela Sozio, 36, a flame-haired former contestant of Grande Fratello, the Italian version of Big Brother, to be the new face for the European Parliament elections in June, reports The Times.

Sozio caught media glare two years ago when paparazzi photographed her and other showgirls strolling hand-in-hand with Berlusconi, 72, at Villa Certosa, his villa in Sardinia.