Pescara, Italy - An Italian man suspected of helping a Swiss gigolo blackmail several rich women, including German BMW car heiress Susanne Klatten, appeared briefly in an Italian court Tuesday where he denied any wrongdoing.

A preliminary hearing involving the 69-year-old Ernano Barretta was postponed until April 9 on a technicality related to the choice of the presiding magistrate.

"What has been said about me are lies," Barretta told reporters as he left a courthouse in the central town of Pescara.

Paestum, Italy - Italy's Cilento region, south of Naples, is a beloved destination of tourists, but not overrun by them. Its attractions include long beaches, extensive vineyards, sleepy villages and mountains about 1,700 metres high.

In 1991, part of the region became Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park. UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural body, added the park - including the archaeological site of Paestum - to its World Heritage list seven years later.

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.

Rome - Renzo Ulivieri, the president of the Italian association of football coaches (AIAC), Monday criticized Jose Mourinho for suggesting that some of his colleagues lack dignity and let others choose the players to field.

"(Inter Milan's) Mourinho is an (AIAC) associate and I'm glad he is," the 68-year-old Ulivieri was quoted as saying, "but this time, if I have to choose the words, he was way out of line (in his colourful Italian expression: 'peed out of the vase').

Rom

Rome, March 23 : Archaeologists have uncovered a marble sculpture dating back to the 1st century AD in the ancient roman town of Herculaneum, which has been sent to Naples, where it will join a major exhibition exploring life in the city buried by Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD.

According to Roman news agency ANSA, the show, running until April 13, already features over 150 artefacts and human remains uncovered over the last three centuries, but the new relief, uncovered by accident last month, is stirring fresh interest.