Rome - The crew of an Italian container ship on Thursday thwarted an attempt by suspected pirates to board the vessel off the coast of Somalia, Italian news reports said.
Water hydrants were used to repel the morning attack which came hours after another attempt by the suspected pirates to capture the vessel, an official of the company that owns the container ship was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency.
Stefano Messina said the assailants were armed with a bazooka and managed to inflict some damage to the vessel, the Jolly Smeraldo.
Rome - Olympic road race silver medallist Davide Rebellin is among the six latest athletes who failed doping tests at the Beijing Olympics, Italian news reports said on Tuesday night. The Italian Olympic Committee confirmed on its website that one of its male athletes was among the six suspects, but did not identify the cyclist.
The International Olympic Committee announced earlier Tuesday that six athletes had submitted seven positives samples for the latest generation of the blood-booster EPO (CERA) at retests of the Beijing Games samples.
Rome - Tommy Robredo earned a three-set elimination of popular Russian Marat Safin 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 on a rain-plagued Tuesday as officials played for time at the Rome Masters. After finishing a mere handful of Day one matches Monday, Tuesday was equally brutal on scheduling after lashings of overnight rain continued from mid-morning.
The weather only died down enough to take to the courts at the Foro Italico two hours after the intended start, with officials packing as many courts as they could get cleaned and dried.
Rome - Prince Emmanuel Filiberto of Savoy, a descendant of Italy's erstwhile royal family, announced Tuesday he is to stand as a candidate in June's European Parliament elections. The 36-year-old grandson of Italy's last king, Umberto II, will run for the centrist, Catholic, Union of Christian Democrats (UDC) party.
"I commit myself... to the service of my country, the thing that I love most," Emmanuel Filiberto said.
Rome - Rafael Nadal waited out steady rain Tuesday at the Rome Masters along with the rest of the field, his thoughts filled with fears that events on his clay-court surface of choice are in decline. "Every year for last years we have less tournaments on clay," said the top seed who lifted a fifth title at the weekend in Barcelona.
Rome - A spate of ifs and buts Monday flooded the commentaries on a Serie A weekend that saw leaders Inter Milan crash to a 1-0 defeat at Napoli, allowing city rivals AC Milan to keep alive their scudetto dreams with five games left. Milan beat Palermo 3-0 and moved to within seven points of Inter, which triggered the regrets of club president and Italy Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
"Without that goal (scored for Inter) with a hand by Adriano in the derby we'd be right behind Inter," Berlusconi said. "But it's also true that with conditionals you go nowhere in football."
Rome - The crew of an Italian container ship on Thursday thwarted an attempt by suspected pirates to board the vessel off the coast of Somalia, Italian news reports said.
Rome - Olympic road race silver medallist Davide Rebellin is among the six latest athletes who failed doping tests at the Beijing Olympics, Italian news reports said on Tuesday night. The Italian Olympic Committee confirmed on its website that one of its male athletes was among the six suspects, but did not identify the cyclist.
Rome - Tommy Robredo earned a three-set elimination of popular Russian Marat Safin 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 on a rain-plagued Tuesday as officials played for time at the Rome Masters. After finishing a mere handful of Day one matches Monday, Tuesday was equally brutal on scheduling after lashings of overnight rain continued from mid-morning.
Rome - Prince Emmanuel Filiberto of Savoy, a descendant of Italy's erstwhile royal family, announced Tuesday he is to stand as a candidate in June's European Parliament elections. The 36-year-old grandson of Italy's last king, Umberto II, will run for the centrist, Catholic, Union of Christian Democrats (UDC) party.
Rome - Rafael Nadal waited out steady rain Tuesday at the Rome Masters along with the rest of the field, his thoughts filled with fears that events on his clay-court surface of choice are in decline. "Every year for last years we have less tournaments on clay," said the top seed who lifted a fifth title at the weekend in Barcelona.
Rome - A spate of ifs and buts Monday flooded the commentaries on a Serie A weekend that saw leaders Inter Milan crash to a 1-0 defeat at Napoli, allowing city rivals AC Milan to keep alive their scudetto dreams with five games left. Milan beat Palermo 3-0 and moved to within seven points of Inter, which triggered the regrets of club president and Italy Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
