Rome  - Brazilian midfielder Emers

Rome  - The shares of Serie A side Roma gained 20 per cent Tuesday amid rumours that a Swiss-German financial group is interested in buying the club, the online site epubblica. it reported.

It appears that Roma and the prospective buyers already signed a preliminary agreement, but the Italpetroli oil company, which controls the club, denied in a statement to have sold its shares.

"Journalistic fabrications about the time for a sale of (our) shares are entirely imaginative and lacking of foundation," Italpetroli said.

Rome - Brazil's football team coach Dunga on Monday took a firm stand against the racist chants that Juventus fans aimed at Inter Milan black striker Mario Balotelli at the weekend.

Dunga spent the weekend in Italy to watch some Brazilian internationals playing in the Italian Serie A.

"Racism is a bad thing," he said, "but in football we feel it more because there are players from all over the world. People want to blow off steam, but they do it in a wrong way.

Rome, April 20 : Reports indicate that the powerful earthquake in the central Italian Abruzzo regional capital L'Aquila last week has unearthed prehistoric dwellings there.

Some of the vaulted caves measure up to five meters in height, Italian geologist Gianluca Ferretti told Italian daily La Stampa.

"We are exploring them," said Ferretti, who teaches geology at L'Aquila's university.

One the biggest caves is located near L'Aquila's bus terminal, in via di Collemaggio. The caves date back 15,000 years, according to geologists.

Rome  - Veteran defender Fabio Cannavaro has decided to rejoin Serie A clu

Rome - Up to 300 illegal immigrants have landed on the Italian island of Sicily on Saturday, local media reported.

Italian coast guard authorities guided the migrants' vessel into the harbour of Pozzallo, in the south of the island. Among the immigrants are thought to be more than 30 women and children.

The new arrival adds to the 340 migrants that landed on the Italian islet of Lampedusa, south of Sicily, on Thursday.