Threatening legal action, Italy’s Equality Minister has ordered an Italian Facebook group’s site to be shut down after it proposed children with Down’s syndrome to be used for target practice.

The page on Facebook showed a Down’s baby with imbecile written on its forehead and said an ‘easy and amusing solution’ for getting rid of ‘these foul creatures’ was to use them for target practice.

Italian research reveals, if you are planning to drive yourself, it would be best to forgo that glass of wine at dinner or the couple of beers when celebrating a colleague's birthday after work.

Dr. Stefano Di Bartolomeo told Reuters Health that as little as one or two drinks within six hours of getting behind the wheel of a car, can increase the risk of having an accident.

Italian industrial group Fiat which earlier this year took control of US car giant Chrysler, reported Wednesday a second-quarter net loss of 179 million euros (250 million dollars), compared with a net income of 646 million euros for the same period in 2008.

An Italian tableware maker, Sambonet Paderno, has bought Rosenthal, a premium German china manufacturer, executives said in Munich Monday.

Sambonet Paderno's main business is with cutlery, stainless-steel coffee pots and serving bowls for both homes and caterers, so Rosenthal's table porcelain is seen as a good fit.

Italian authorities were Thursday probing a report that four would-be immigrants from Algeria have managed to reach Sardinia illegally on board stolen jet-skis.

Pope Benedict XVI is to go on holiday for two weeks to his Alpine chalet in north-west Italian mountain village of Les Combes di Introd with 200 security personnel in attendance, the police presidium in the Aosta region reported on Saturday.

The world's greatest developed and developing powers are set to call for an immediate restart of the stalled Doha round of World Trade Organization talks with a view to reaching a deal in 2010, diplomats said Thursday.

A man was killed and eight young footballers were wounded by rifle shots fired during a five-a-side football game in the southern Italian town of Crotone, news reports said on Friday.