Rome - Italian football giants Juventus Turin are considering the sale of striker Vincenzo Iaquinta to Russian club Zenit St Petersburg and appear close to buy young Argentine star Eduardo Salvio, La Gazzetta dello Sport reported Tuesday.

Zenit reportedly offered 10 million euros (13.2 million dollars) for the 29-year-old forward, who found little room in his two seasons at the Juve, mostly due to frequent injuries.

Venice, Italy - US animator John Lasseter known for family- viewing box-office hits such as Toy Story and A Bug's Life, is to be bestowed with the 2009 Venice Film Festival's Career Golden Lion award, organizers announced Monday.

Lasseter will share the award with the Walt Disney Company-owned Pixar Animation Studios the producers of Toy Story as well as other well-received animated films including Finding Nemo (2003) and Ratatouille (2007).

Lasseter will pick up the Career Golden Lion at a ceremony held during the Festival which runs from September 2 to 12.

Italy - Sweden's Jessica Lindell-Vikarby claimed her first World Cup victory Monday as the favourites slipped up in a women's super-g on Monday.

The 24-year-old posted 1 minute 25.13 seconds on Cortina's Tofane piste for a comfortable 0.81-second lead over 19-year-old Austrian Anna Fenninger.

Third was Switzerland's Andrea Dettling, 0.87 seconds behind, who with Fenninger enjoyed a first podium finish.

Lindell-Vikarby's best previous finish was a third place in a super-g at Lake Louise, Canada on December 2, 2007.

London, Jan 26 : Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has fuelled a furore yet again by saying that women in the country were so beautiful that they needed military escorts to avoid being raped.

And now, the Itlalian premier has landed in soup over his comments, which came in response to questions about his proposal to deploy 300,000 soldiers in the streets to fight crime.

The move came in line with a series of violent attacks, including a rape in Rome on New Year''s Eve and another outside the capital.

Kolkata, Jan 23, : Italian Ambassador in India, Alessandro Quaroni said on Firday that Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose died in 1945, in an air crash at Taihoku and therefore there is no point in undertaking further research.

Addressing the media at Subhash Chandra Bose''s ancestral house on his 113th anniversary, Quaroni said, "I personally do not see the point of research because unfortunately, the person, Netaji died, but his message lived on and still remains."

Anterselva, Italy  - Tora Berger of Norway edged Darya Domracheva of Belarus Thursday to win the 7.5-kilometre sprint in the women's biathlon World Cup.

Berger clocked 21 minutes 25.5 seconds to beat Domracheva by 8.1 seconds after both had a penalty round at Anterselva, Italy.

Kati Wilhelm of Germany was 20.7 seconds back in third place after one penalty round.

Wilhelm, winner of last year's race, moves to third overall in the standings on 437 points, behind leader Svetlana Slepzova of Russia (481) and compatriot Ekaterina Iourieva (473).