Rome - Aged 36 and with a 17-year career behind him, Juventus Turin veteran Pavel Nedved can't wait to take to the pitch Saturday for a Serie A showdown at Inter Milan.

Juve come to the Giuseppe Meazza stadium off five straight league wins, which have pushed them within three points of the leading champions after a dithering start to the season.

The Turin side also boosted their morale by securing the knockout stage of the Champions League with two defeats of Spanish giants Real Madrid.

"I'm glad to meet Inter now because we are in form," the Czech midfielder Nedved said.

Trieste, Italy - Police in Italy have arrested 11 Nigerians suspected of running a prostitution ring in which dozens of women from Nigeria were brought to Italy illegally, news reports said Thursday.

The suspects were picked up in several north-eastern cities including Venice, Verona, Vicenza, Padua, Bergamo and Trieste, from where the investigation began, the ANSA news agency reported.

Police were acting on a tip-off from authorities in neighbouring Slovenia, who had discovered several Nigerian nationals in possession of forged documents.

Baghdad - Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Thursday that his country is concerned about violence against Iraq's minorities, especially Christians, during a surprise visit to Iraq.

Iraqi Christians in the northern Mosul city have been subjected to killings and death threats since September, and many thousands have fled the city.

Around 400 Christians fled to Syria in October alone to escape the harsh conditions at home.

The Vatican said in October the Iraqi government needed to do more to protect Christians in Mosul.

Frattini said Iraq's government had taken positive steps to protect Christians.

Athens  - Greece and visiting Italy Wednesday settled for a 1-1 draw in Athens that gave world champion coach Marcello Lippi a record of 31 unbeaten games at the helm of the Azzurri.

Fanis Gekas put the home side in front on 50 minutes but Italy equalized just four minutes later through Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni, whose 16th goal for his country ended a barren period that lasted almost 700 minutes.

Athens  - Greece and visiting Italy Wednesday settled for a 1-1 draw in Athens that gave world champion coach Marcello Lippi a record of 31 unbeaten games at the helm of the Azzurri.

Fanis Gekas put the home side in front on 50 minutes but Italy equalized just four minutes later through Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni, whose 16th goal for his country ended a barren period that lasted almost 700 minutes.

The draw sees Lippi, who returned to the helm at Italy last summer after winning the 2006 World Cup and following the removal of Roberto Donadoni, improve by one game an earlier record set by Vittorio Pozzo, a winner of two World Cups in the 1930s.

Rome  - Italy's Economic Development Minister Claudio Scajola gave the green light Wednesday for the sale "at not less than 1.052 billion euros" (1.328 billion dollars) of struggling state-controlled carrier Alitalia to an Italian private consortium.

Scajola authorized Alitalia's bankruptcy commissioner, Augusto Fantozzi, providing the government's financial terms are met, to proceed with the "transfer of the airline's assets to the Compagnia Aerea Italiana (CAI) by December 1," said an Economic Development ministry statement.