Lampedusa, Italy - Around 490 would-be immigrants arrived early Saturday on the Italian islet of Lampedusa, placing further strain on what officials say are already overcrowded reception facilities.

A coastguard patrol sighted the main group of 324 would-be immigrants on a vessel adrift some 60 nautical miles from Lampedusa shortly after midnight.

The vessel was escorted to the islet, while a few hours later, another boat with over 200 people on board also managed to reach land.

Lampedusa, Italy - Italy's interior minister said Friday that a meeting with his Group of Eight (G8) counterparts will be held in May on Lampedusa, the Mediterranean islet where thousands of would-be immigrants arrive each year.

"We want the other ministers to understand what it is like living with the phenomenon of illegal immigration," Minister Roberto Maroni said during a visit to Lampedusa.

Rome - In Italy the leader of a tiny retailer union's proposal to shun Jewish-owned shops to protest Israel's Gaza incursion has drawn wide condemnation, with Rome's mayor, a former prominent member of a neo-fascist party, taking the lead.

Mayor Gianni Alemanno on Thursday visited Rome's ancient Ghetto - where Jews were once segregated - and in a show solidarity, purchased a tie and several shirts from Jewish shopkeepers.

"It (the boycott) is a folly that takes us back to the past," Alemanno said, referring to the racist laws introduced by Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in 1938.

Naples, Italy - Police in Naples' sea port discovered Friday 15 kilograms of cocaine concealed

Rome - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Thursday his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin assured him that a proposed European Union mission to Ukraine will take place imminently, paving the way for the resumption of Russian gas supplies to the 27-nation bloc.

Berlusconi was speaking to reporters following a "long" evening telephone conversation with Putin, according to the ANSA news agency.

Rome - Luciano Moggi, former general manager of Juventus, and his son Alessandro Thursday were found guilty of threatening several footballers in a corruption trial, Italian media reported.

Luciano Moggi was sentenced to 18 months and his son to 14, but neither will be imprisoned, as their offence was pardoned by a law in 2006.

The Moggis were among the founders of GEA, a firm of footballers' agents, which handled the contract of many Serie A and Serie B players between 2001 and 2006.