Rome- Italy's government approved Monday a decree containing measures to shield the country's banks, Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti said, adding that the cost of the aid cannot be quantified at this stage.

Tremonti said the country's central Bank of Italy would evaluate struggling banks "case-by-case" and then possibly recommend government intervention, which in extreme situations could involve placing a bank under state administration.

The state would also guarantee for a period of five years debts incurred by Italian banks up until December 31 2009, Tremonti said.

Rome - Italian groups representing the families of victims of the terrorism that bloodied the country during the 1970s and 1980s have condemned France's decision not to extradite a former member of the Red Brigades.

The office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy said over the weekend that convicted murderer Marina Petrella would not be extradited to Italy.

The decision reversed a pledge by Sarkozy that France would no longer grant asylum to members of the Red Brigades and under extremist groups involved in urban guerilla violence during Italy's so-called "years of lead".

Rome  - Italian police arrested five men Monday - including the mayors of two towns - in raids targeting attempts by the Calabrian mafia, the 'Ngrangheta, to infiltrate local goverment.

The suspended mayor of the southern port city of Gioia Tauro, Giorgio Dal Torrione, his deputy, Rosario Schiavone, and Carlo Martelli, the mayor of another Calabrian town, Rosarno, were taken into custody in the morning bust.

Rome - Climate change and bio-energy are the focus of this year's World Food Day activities, expected to involve over 150 countries, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Friday.

The Rome-based FAO celebrates World Food Day each year on October 16, the day on which the Organization was founded in 1945.

"Global warming is already underway and adaptation strategies are now a matter of urgency, especially for the most vulnerable poor countries," FAO Assistant Director-General, Alexander Mueller said.

FAO estimates that some 920 million people in the world face hunger, including small-scale farmers, fishers and forest-dependent people.

Rome  - Italy's banking sector is "less sophisticated" than in other European nations and hence more "robust" in dealing with the current financial crisis, Italian Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti said Thursday.

He was adressing parliament on measures approved Wednesday by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government to restore confidence in the country's banks.

Besides an existing provision guaranteeing bank deposits of up to 103,000 euros (140,000 dollars), the state would assist banks that risked failure because of an inability to raise capital on the market, Tremonti indicated.

Rome - In Prato they are proud of their famous biscuits; just don't call them cantucci, even if your name is Pope Benedict XVI.

The German pontiff, noted for his sweet tooth, is reportedly a fan of the slice-like, almond-studded confectionary, a passion he shares with among others, former US president Bill Clinton. Designer Giorgio Armani offers them to visitors at his fashion showroom in Milan.

The cantucci or cantuccini (the smaller version) may have conquered palates beyond the confines of their Tuscan town of origin, but back home they all insist on calling them the biscotti di Prato (the biscuits of Prato).