Wellington - A rescue operation was launched Monday to save two Italian sailors stranded on a crippled yacht in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Chile.

An oil tanker was diverted to their aid, but New Zealand's Rescue Coordination Centre said it was 800 nautical miles from the 10-metre yacht and would not reach them for three days.

Rome - An own goal in a 1-0 win Sunday over Udinese allowed Inter Milan to leave Juventus nine points behind with eight games left in the Serie A season.

Juve stumbled earlier Sunday in a 3-3 home draw with minnows Chievo, allowing Sergio Pellissier to top a hat-trick with an injury- time equalizer.

In Udine, two wide drives from Ghana's Sulley Muntari were the only first-half efforts from a lacklustre Inter, who had some problems in defence as Udinese pressed on the flanks to provide feeds for Fabio Quagliarella.

Rome - An own goal in a 1-0 win over Udinese Sunday allowed Inter Milan to leave Juventus nine points behind with eight games left to the end of the Serie A season.

Juve earlier Sunday stumbled in a 3-3 home draw with minnows Chievo allowing Sergio Pellissier to top a hat-trick with an injury-time equalizer.

In Udine, two wide drives from Ghana's Sulley Muntari were the only first-half efforts from a lacklustre Inter, who had some problems in defence as Udinese pressed on the flanks to provide feeds for Fabio Quagliarella.

Rome  - Hundreds of Afghan children who make up the majority of unaccompanied minors living on the streets of Rome mostly arrive in Italy following hazardous journeys through Greece and Turkey and the countries of the former Yugoslavia, Italian news reports said Sunday.

The discovery this week by police of 24 Afghans - aged between 10 and 15 - living in makeshift underground shelters at Rome's Ostiense railway station, has cast the spotlight on the plight of immigrant street-children in the Italian capital.

Rome  - Inter Milan on Sunday were awaiting the return of striker driano, who has remained in Brazil after being in the squad for two 2010 World Cup qualifiers over the past week.

La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that Adriano, 26, could return to Italy Monday or Tuesday. He failed to board a scheduled flight for Italy on Friday and did not communicate his decision to his agent and Inter.

Adriano has suffered from alcohol problems and depression over the past two years. Brazil coach Dunga kept him on the bench in games played against Ecuador on March 28 and Peru on Wednesday, but Inter coach Jose Mourinho didn't want to dwell on his personal problems.

Rome  - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has dismissed criticism of his government's economic policies during protest in Rome involving hundreds of thousands of workers, students and pensioners.

"It is impossible to speak and reason with the deaf," Berlusconi said in Prague late Saturday, where he was attending a US-European Union summit.

Berlusconi also disputed that 2.7 million attended Saturday's protest, a figure claimed by the organizer, Italy's largest labour union confederation, the leftist CGIL.