Berlin - Italy's domestic car market shrank by 19.5 per cent year-on-year in June, data released Wednesday showed, as the economic mood in the nation continue to darken.

New car registrations in Italy dropped to 184,275 last month compared with 228,924 in June 2007, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers' Association
(ACEA).

Last month's slump brought the overall drop in the Italian car market for the first six months to the year to 11.5 per cent.

Moscow - Italian President Giorgio Napolitano met with Russia's ruling duo president Dmitry Medvedev and Premier Vladimir Putin in Moscow Wednesday for talks a Kremlin spokesman said would focus on

Lampedusa, Italy - Three vessels carrying around 450 would-be immigrants were heading Monday for the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, navy officials said.

The Italian navy picked up SOS signals transmitted from two of the vessels, both drifting some 70 nautical miles south-east of Lampedusa, Captain Cosimo Nicastro said.

A coastguard patrol boat has been dispatched to rescue the would-be immigrants whose nationality has yet to be established, Nicastro said.

Another coastguard rescue mission was under way for the over 50 occupants of the third vessel, which was spotted by an Italian trawler some 55 nautical miles south of Lampedusa, Nicastro said.

Milan, Italy  - An Italian appeals court ruled Wednesday that life support can be removed from a woman who has been in a coma for 16 years and whose case has fuelled controversy over euthanasia in

Washington/Quebec City - A stretch of Alpine railways that connect Thusis in Switzerland via St Moritz to Tirano in Italy were added to the list of World Heritage sites by UNESCO.

The 128-kilometre rail designation includes the Albula line and the Bernina pass lines operated by Switzerland's Rhaetian Railway. The lines pass through Alpine mountain towns and landscape and through the language divides of German, Romansh and Italian cultures.