Lampedusa, Italy  - More than 300 would-be migrants landed Thursday on the Italian islet of Lampedusa when three vessels carrying them were escorted to shore by authorities.

The first and largest group - 239 people including 45 women and two children - arrived at dawn after their vessel was intercepted by a Italian coastguard patrol, officials said.

Authorities are planning to transfer the migrants to a reception centre in Porto Empedocle in Sicily.

Castel Gandolfo, Italy  - Following a week of intense Easter festivities, Pope Benedict XVI was set Thursday to spend his 82nd birthday resting at the papal residence of Castel Gandolfo in the hills south of Rome.

The low-key commemoration contrasted with April 16, 2008 when Benedict, who was on an apostolic visit to the US, was feted in Washington by then US president George W Bush.

On that occasion a choir sang "Happy Birthday" for the pontiff on the White House lawn.

Rome - A 44-year-old Italian man abducted in Nigeria on April 6 has been released, the Italian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

The man, Giuseppe Canova, was "unharmed" a ministry statement said, without adding further details on the release.

The ministry said it "thanks the Nigerian Authorities for their proactive collaboration which resulted in a positive solution of the case."

Canova had been working for an Italian company Marlum Construction in the southeastern Nigerian state of Ebonyi when he was kidnapped by unknown gunmen.

Rome  - Some half-a-billion euros (665 million dollars) in European Union funds could be made available to help reconstruction efforts in Italy following last week's devastating earthquake, a top EU official said Wednesday.

European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani said the Italian government had 10 weeks by which it would have to apply for the money.

Almost 300 people were killed and around 35,000 left homeless in the earthquake which struck the central Abruzzo region on April 6.

Rome - Serie A strugglers Bologna switched coach for the second time this season, calling up veteran Giuseppe Papadopulo to replace Serb Sinisa Mihajlovic, the club's website reported Tuesday. Bologna mildly improved their standing after former star defender Mihajlovic took over from Daniele Arrigoni in November, but at the weekend sank into the three-team drop zone after suffering a fourth straight defeat.

L'Aquila, Italy - Almost a week after a devastating earthquake hit central Italy, authorities on Sunday terminated the search for survivors with the death toll standing at 294. A
59-year-old man who died in hospital late Saturday was the latest victim of the earthquake that struck the Abruzzo region on Monday.

By Sunday morning all missing people were accounted for, but officials said they could not exclude the possibility of more being found under rubble in the city of L'Aquila and other badly damaged towns.