Rome  - At least two boats carrying hundreds of African refugees sank off the Libyan coast, with 21 bodies and 23 survivors recovered and hundreds more missing, Italian media reported early Tuesday.

One boat was carrying a reported 257 people and the second had 340 on board.

The search for missing was continuing.

The two boats were launched from near Tripoli in the direction of Italy. The causes of the shipwrecks were not immediately known.

Washington  - Struggling US carmaker Chrysler LLC and Italian maker Fiat Motor SA said Monday they had reached a deal in principle on a new partnership, less than two hours after the US government said the merger was the only way for Chrysler to keep its emergency loans.

Chrysler chief executive Bob Nardelli, announcing the agreement, said the alliance would help the US carmaker preserve jobs and build more fuel-efficient cars.

"Chrysler has consistently said that the alliance with Fiat enhances its business model (and) expands its global competitiveness," Nardelli said in his statement.

Rome - As more than 400 would-be immigrants landed on Monday in Sicily, Italy's Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said such arrivals from the North Africa would stop once an agreement involving Libyan naval patrols comes into effect in May.

"There's a commitment by the Libyan government to begin patrolling its coastline with six boats beginning on May 15," Maroni said.

"I have no reason to doubt that this will happen and that hence the problem will be solved," he added.

Rome - AC Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati successfully underwent knee surgery Monday in Belgium and began rehabilitation expected to last six months, his club's website reported.

Abbiati, 31, damaged the cruciate ligament in his right knee clashing with team mate Giuseppe Favalli on March 15 during a Serie A game against Siena.

A similar operation could be necessary for international striker Antonio Di Natale, who was stretchered off the pitch Saturday as Italy beat Montenegro 2-0 in a 2010 World Cup qualifier.

Rome - The co-founder of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's new party restated Monday his dissent with Berlusconi's plans to change Italy's constitution, including more powers for the premier, regardless of the views of the country's opposition.

Gianfranco Fini, speaker of parliament's lower house Chamber of Deputies, was commenting on remarks made by Berlusconi on Sunday at the People of Freedom party's opening congress.

London, Mar 29 : Michele Mongelli, the ‘Italian Josef Fritzl’ who kept his daughter prisoner and brutally raped her for 25 years, was known to police, it has emerged.

Listening devices had been placed in the handset of Mongelli, a 63-year-old a scrap metal dealer in Turin, as part of the probe against him and his son Giuseppe, 41.

Officers heard him carry out the attack on his daughter, 34, after the handset had been misplaced, reports The Telegraph.