Rome  - Roma had captain Daniele De Rossi sent off as they were held to a 1-1 home draw by visiting Udinese in the Serie A Saturday to dent their pursuit of a Champions League berth.

Roma are now level with Genoa and one point behind Fiorentina, in the fourth Champions League qualifying place, who could improve their tally Sunday when Palermo are the visitors.

Brazilian defender Felipe put Udinese ahead in the second half before an equalizer from substitute Mirko Vucinic.

Venice, Italy  - The skeleton of woman who was probably believed to have been a vampire when she died in the Middle Ages has been uncovered in Venice, news agency reported Friday.

Archaeologists made the find on Lazzaretto Nuovo, one of the hundreds of islands that make up the lagoon city, the ANSA news agency reported.

A brick found lodged in the skeleton's mouth suggests the woman's body was "staked", University of Florence expert Matteo Borrini said.

Rome - AC Milan refused to confirm reports Friday that a deal has been agreed with Los Angeles Galaxy to extend the loan contract of England football star David Beckham.

"We are continuing the negotiation and we are heading in the right direction, but that Beckham remains at Milan is not yet official," the ANSA news agency quoted club vice president Adriano Galliani as saying.

Rome - Pope Benedict XVI, during his expected visit to the Holy Land in May, is not scheduled to enter an Israeli Holocaust museum which contains a controversial caption on wartime pope Pius XII, Israel's Vatican envoy said Friday.

Ambassador Mordechay Lewy referred to the pontiff's trip during a conference in Rome on Jerusalem's holy sites, the ANSA news agency reported.

The Vatican has yet to confirm the pontiff's visit to the Holy Land which is likely to include visits to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

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.

Milan - Italian state sponsorship for a film based on a memoir by a former leftist terrorist has sparked outrage among relatives of victims of the wave of urban guerrilla attacks that bloodied the country in the 1970s and '80s.

On Thursday a top anti-terrorism prosecutor, Armando Spataro, also criticized the 1.5 million euro (1.8 million dollars) subsidy for the film, the Corriere della Sera daily said.

The film is budgeted for 6.4 million dollars according to trade publication Variety.