Buehl, Germany  - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi needs to find alternative accomodation for April's NATO summit in Baden-Baden after the hotel of choice was deemed unfit, a hotel manager disclosed Tuesday.

Due to security concerns, Italy's NATO delegation will not be able to stay, as planned, in the Buehlerhoehe luxury hotel on the edge of town, hotel director Heinz Imhof told German Press Agency dpa.

Rome  - Despite declaring in 2007 an income of around a tenth of that of the previous year, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi still easily tops the list of the country's richest government officials, figures released on Monday showed.

Berlusconi's taxable earnings amounted to some 14.5 million euros (19.7 million dollars) compared to 139 million euros he declared in 2006.

Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti declared the second highest income among parliamentarians in 2007 with 4.5 million euros.

Podgorica, Montenegro - Montenegro's political opposition on Monday accused Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of "meddling" in the Balkan country's current election campaign.

Nebojsa Medojevic, head of the Movement for Change, made the statement in reaction to Berlusconi's one-day visit with Montenegran Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic in Podgorica.

In the meeting, the Italian leader had agreed to new Italian investment in the Montenegro's energy and tourism sectors, local media reported.

Rome - Long a pet project of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian government revived Friday a plan to build the world's largest suspension bridge linking Sicily to Italy's mainland.

The cabinet meeting in Rome approved a 17.8-billion-euro (22.4 billion dollar) public works programme including new rail links, motorways and tunnels.

Some 1.3 billion euros have been earmarked for the bridge project which is estimated to be worth a total of 6.1 billion euros.

Rome - Italy's conservative government introduced Friday harsher penalties for rape and other sexual abuse cases, the creation of civilian anti-crime patrols and an extension to the period for which illegal immigrants can be kept in detention centres.

The measures contained in a decree approved by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's cabinet, come in the wake of several high profile gang-rape cases.

Rome - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his British counterpart, Gordon Brown, reiterated Thursday their commitment to free trade and said the current economic crisis must not "pull back" the process of globalization.

"Protectionist measures reduce growth throughout the world, they deprive us of the benefits of global trade and confine to poverty millions of people," the two said in a joint statement.

The statement was posted on the Italian government's website ahead of talks between Berlusconi and Brown in Rome on Thursday.