L'Aquila, Italy - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi wants to switch the venue of July's G8 summit to L'Aquila, the Medieval town ravaged by an earthquake, in a gesture of solidarity, it was announced Thursday.

The meeting of heads of government from the world's richest countries is currently planned to take place on La Maddalena, a small island off Sardinia.

Milan - Some 150 refugees from Africa demanding housing and jobs have interrupted the Milan Furniture and Design Fair with sitdown protests and demonstrations, Italian media reported Thursday.

The action came after police evicted around 300 refugees from a block of flats they had occupied.

Some of the mainly political refugees from war zones such as Eritrea and Somalia found accommodation in church institutions. Around 150 continued their protest.

London, Apr 23 : Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has brought some pretty girls with a background in showbusiness into his Cabinet to brighten up politics.

Berlusconi has chosen Angela Sozio, 36, a flame-haired former contestant of Grande Fratello, the Italian version of Big Brother, to be the new face for the European Parliament elections in June, reports The Times.

Sozio caught media glare two years ago when paparazzi photographed her and other showgirls strolling hand-in-hand with Berlusconi, 72, at Villa Certosa, his villa in Sardinia.

Rome  - Long-range drives from Mauro Zarate and Aleksandar Kolarov secured the Italian Cup final for Lazio in a 2-1 win Wednesday over 10-man Juventus for an aggregate 4-2 score.

Zarate's firing skills froze the home crowd at Turin's Stadio Olimpico and stunned Gianluigi Buffon on 38 minutes, when the international goalkeeper tried a desperate dive on his left only to watch the drooping shot find the net behind him.

Rome/Berlin - A hunt was on in Germany and Italy on Wednesday for a German couple who abandoned their three children at a pizzeria in northern Italy, officials said Wednesday.

Two boys, aged ten months and six years, and their four-year-old sister were found unsupervised on Sunday evening at a restaurant in the town of Aosta.

The 26-year-old mother and her 24-year-old companion told the children they were going outside to smoke a cigarette and have not been seen since.

Rome  - The wealthy German Flick family leads a group of entrepreneurs interested in buying Serie A side Roma, la Repubblica reported Wednesday.

The shares of the club gained 20 per cent Tuesday amid rumours of a possible sale by the controlling Italpetroli oil company, which denied in a statement to have sold its shares.

The Flick family led a German industrial empire until the 1980s. Friedrich Flick was the wealthiest German after World War II but also a convicted war criminal.