Brussels - The European Union's executive fears that an Italian plan to support the car industry could break EU rules, officials in Brussels said Friday, just days after they raised similar concerns over French and Spanish plans.

"As far as the Italian measures are concerned, we do have some concerns," European Commission competition spokesman Jonathan Todd told journalists in Brussels.

The commission "will be writing to the Italian authorities today, and we will ask them for detailed information on this system, to be provided within five working days," he said.

Rome - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his British counterpart, Gordon Brown, reiterated Thursday their commitment to free trade and said the current economic crisis must not "pull back" the process of globalization.

"Protectionist measures reduce growth throughout the world, they deprive us of the benefits of global trade and confine to poverty millions of people," the two said in a joint statement.

The statement was posted on the Italian government's website ahead of talks between Berlusconi and Brown in Rome on Thursday.

Brussels - Italy, Spain and Greece are the worst countries in the European Union for breaking the bloc's laws on creating a single market, with Poland catching up fast, a study published by the European Commission in Brussels on Thursday showed.

Italy is currently facing legal action - known as "infringement proceedings" - from the commission in no fewer than 112 cases, the highest figure in the bloc, the EU executive's report said. Spain was second with 103 cases.

Greece came in third, with 91 cases, closely followed by Germany, with 90.

Rome- Police in southern Italy have arrested 29 Africans suspected of running a cocaine and heroin ring, officials said Thursday.

Two Italian nationals were also apprehended in overnight raids in the town of Castel Volturno near Naples, local carabinieri commander Carmelo Burgio told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.

Rome - Seven drunken fans of Ajax have been arrested in Florence f

Madrid/Rome  - A Madrid judge ruled Wednesday that Italian anti-doping proceedings against Alejandro Valverde are "null and void," but the Spanish cyclist said that he would appear anyway in an effort to clear his name.

Madrid Judge Antonio Serrano ruled that proceedings initiated against Valverde by Italy's National Olympic Committee (CONI) made unlawful use of blood samples seized from alleged doping doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, in an investigation against the winner of the UCI ProTour championships in 2006 and 2008.