Milan - Torino edged visiting Palermo 1-0 Saturday in a pulsating game that opened the 10th round of Seria A at Turin's Stadio Olimpico.

Second-half Austrian substitute Juergen Saumel rewarded Torino's unrelenting pressing volleying home a lose ball from long-range with one minute left.

Torino had notched only three points from their last six games and moved clear of the lower reaches on 11 points, while Palermo remain safe on 16.

Brussels - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Friday refused to apologise for calling US president-elect Barack Obama "sun-tanned."

The outspoken premier was approached at a European Union summit in Brussels by a US journalist, who had asked him to say sorry for offending Obama with the racial slur.

"It is you who should be apologizing to Italy," an angry Berlusconi retorted before abandoning a press conference midway.

Rome - Oops he's done it again.

Barely 24 hours had passed since Barack Obama's election win and Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was, it seems, unable to resist making an unfortunate quip on the US president-elect's racial background.

The 72-year-old, three times Italian premier, had initially greeted Obama's election triumph in almost avuncular terms.

He would, he said, offer the 47-year-old US president-elect "some advice given my age and experience."

London, November 7: Gaffe-prone Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has given rise to a fresh controversy by praising U. S. President-elect Barack Obama’s suntan.

The entrepreneur, while on a Moscow visit, said last night that Obama was “young, handsome and tanned”.

His comment drew a lot of criticism.

“What’s the problem? It was a compliment. If these people don’t have a sense of humour why don’t they just...” British tabloid The Sun quoted him as responding to his criticisms.

Moscow - Russia oil major Lukoil will sign a 1.35 billion-euro (1.73 billion-dollar) deal to purchase a stake in Italian refiner ERG and enter into a joint venture that would allow it to break into European markets.

The deal was expected to be formalized during Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's visit to Moscow Thursday.

"The transaction with ERG will be closed on December 1. Lukoil will pay cash during the year," Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov told news agency Interfax on Thursday.

Turin, Italy - Barack Obama's victory in the US presidential vote marks a "great step forward for humanity" that could be mirrored with the election of a black pope, according to a top US Roman Catholic cleric.

"If Obama at the White House is like the first time man (stepped on) the moon, then it can certainly happen at the threshold of St Peter's," the Archbishop of Atlanta, Wilton Daniel Gregory, was quoted as saying in an interview published Thursday in an Italian newspaper.