Dresden, Germany - Some 27 masterpieces of Italian art are being shipped from Dresden, Germany to the J Paul Getty Museum on the outskirts of Los Angeles, German officials said Thursday.

Vatican City  - Pope Benedict XVI's spokesman on Thursday renewed an appeal for the release of two Italian Roman Catholic nuns believed to have been abducted from Kenya by Somali Islamists earlier this month.

"More than a fortnight has passed since the two Italian nuns, Sister Maria Teresa Olivero and Sister Caterina Giraudo, were abducted in Kenya, where they are well-known for their generous dedication to the very poor," Father Federico Lombardi said in Vatican statement.

Benedict was following "the protraction of their kidnapping with concern," Lombardi said.

Rome  - Italy's government condemned Thursday the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, in which an Italian man was among those killed.

"The attacks in India, that were almost certainly carried out by groups linked to al-Qaeda, confirm that terrorism remains the number one threat to the entire community of nations," Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.

Frattini, in a television interview, also expressed condolences to the family of the Italian victim, Antonio De Lorenzo.

Rome  - Colourful tartans well-known in Scotland currently are all the rage in Italy. Anyone with a sense of style from Milan to Messina and from Pordenone to Palermo is wearing plaids.

Rome - Italy's conservative government presented Wednesday a state-sponsored credit card which will be provided to needy people to help them cope with the country's current economic recession.

The "carta per gli acquisti" or "social card" as local media have dubbed it, is worth 40 euros (51 dollars) per month and allows bearers to buy goods at chain stores and supermarkets that have adhered to the initiative, Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti said.

The government estimates that some 1.3 million people will benefit from the card. It is set to cost the state 450 million euros per year.

Rome - Italian authorities have seized over 241,000 counterfeit banknotes during the first six months of 2008, a haul which marks a 314 per cent increase over the previous six months, a commander of Italy's anti-fraud police said Tuesday.

The "value" of this fake cash amounted to 12.4 million euros, with copies of the 20 euro banknote accounting for over a third of all those seized, Leandro Cuzzocrea said, citing Economy Ministry figures.

During the same period in 2008, authorities also confiscated more than 11,000 counterfeit coins, some 90 per cent of which were copies of the two-euro coin, Cuzzocrea said.