Milan police say a pair of armed bank robbers dressed as guards has made off with euro4 million ($5.4 million) in cash from a bank in the heart of Italy’s financial capital.

A new report from Freedom House finds the worldwide degree of liberty has fallen a few notches during the past 12 months. It’s about to slip a couple more. The administration of Silvio Berlosconi in Italy has announced new rules stipulating that anyone who wants to upload a video to the Internet must get a government license first. The rules apply to newspapers posting footage of a town meeting, family members putting a video of a snoring dog on YouTube, and anybody else who dares to share “moving pictures, with or without sound.“

Italy’s interior minister says body scanners will be installed in at least two airports.

A doctor says Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is eating with difficulty and will remain hospitalized at least one more day, after he was attacked in the face by a man at a rally.

Italy has given a final go-ahead to the abortion drug RU-486, capping years of debate and defying opposition from the Vatican.

An Italian judge on Wednesday convicted 23 Americans of the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric on a Milan street, in a landmark case involving the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program in the war on terrorism.

Rivers of mud unleashed by heavy rains overnight flooded parts of the Sicilian city of Messina, leaving at least 17 people dead while sweeping away cars and collapsing buildings, officials and news reports said.

A human rights group on Monday accused Italy of forcibly returning would-be migrants to Libya, failing to screen them for possible asylum requests and exposing them to abuse in the North African country.

Italy said Thursday that its troops will remain in Afghanistan, despite suffering its deadliest attack to date in the country, a suicide car bombing that killed six soldiers and wounded four.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, embroiled in a sex scandal, has canceled a visit to L’Aquila for a religious service for the remission of sins.

Police in Italy say they have arrested two people for dumping raw cesspool sewage into the waters of Capri’s Blue Grotto.

A German newspaper says it is flying readers to Italy to play lotto before the drawing for a record €131.5 ($186 million) jackpot.

A 90-year-old former German army officer was convicted Tuesday of murdering 10 Italian civilians who were herded into a barn that was blown up.

Sixteen sailors, including 10 Italians, whose tug was seized by Somali pirates four months ago are free after the pirates abandoned the ship, Italian authorities said Monday.

Italy has approved the use of the abortion drug RU-486, capping years of debate and defying opposition from the Vatican, which warned of immediate excommunication for doctors prescribing the pill and for women who use it.