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Rome - Italy striker Antonio Di Natale won't be available for Udinese in the final part of the season as he recovers from a knee injury suffered at the weekend, the ANSA news agency reported Tuesday.

Di Natale, 31, was stretchered off the pitch Saturday as Italy beat Montenegro 2-0 in a 2010 World Cup qualifier.

He damaged the cruciate ligament in his left knee as he slipped away from the ball on a wet pitch.

Rome - Coach Carlo Ancelotti has dismissed rumours that he could leave AC Milan, saying he is set on remaining at the Serie A giants despite a second straight disappointing season.

"I haven't yet found a good reason to leave," Ancelotti Tuesday told La Gazzetta dello Sport, "but the club must also agree."

The 49-year-old played his last five years with the Devils and took over as coach in 2001, steering them to win one Serie A scudetto, two Champions League titles and one Club World Cup.

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.