Rome  - Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti has played down the importance of his team's lead in the Serie A and quelled rumours of new arrivals when the transfer market opens in January.

Inter's website Monday quoted Moratti as saying that "this is a good moment and there have been problems for the other teams. It was great that Inter played a very good first half (as they beat Napoli 2-1)."

The Italian champions at the weekend beat the Naples guests and now hold a six-point lead over AC Milan, who lost 3-1 at Palermo and trail second-place Juventus on goal difference. Inter have 33 points from 14 games.

Rome - A row intensified in Italy on Monday over the government's proposal to raise value added tax (VAT) on satellite television subscriptions, a move that critics say targets the main competitor to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's media empire.

The provision to double VAT from 10 to 20 per cent was included in a economic crisis package unveiled by the conservative government on Friday.

Opposition leaders say it highlights the "conflict of interest" of Berlusconi, who heads the government while also controlling Italy's largest private television network Mediaset.

Venice, Italy - Sea water encroached on large parts of Venice Monday amid warnings that the lagoon city could experience the greatest surge in high tide levels in almost 30 years.

The municipality's Centro Maree, or Tide Centre, which monitors water levels, said high tides have reached 144 centimetres above sea level - a situation that leaves some
96 per cent of the lagoon city's surface area covered by water.

By noon, according to the Centro forecast, the tide which is being pushed by strong winds, could reach as high as 166 centimetres above sea level, a figure last recorded in 1979.

Rome- More than 600 illegal immigrants arrived on Southern Italy's Lampedusa overnight, overwhelming the tiny islet's refugee centre, reports said Saturday.

The most recent arrivals swelled numbers in the island's reception centre, which has beds for just 700 people, to over 1,400.

Some 620 illegal immigrants in two boats landed on the island Friday night in stormy seas.

Some 250 of them were due to be flown to other refugee centres later Saturday.

Dresden, Germany - Some 27 masterpieces of Italian art are being shipped from Dresden, Germany to the J Paul Getty Museum on the outskirts of Los Angeles, German officials said Thursday.

Vatican City  - Pope Benedict XVI's spokesman on Thursday renewed an appeal for the release of two Italian Roman Catholic nuns believed to have been abducted from Kenya by Somali Islamists earlier this month.

"More than a fortnight has passed since the two Italian nuns, Sister Maria Teresa Olivero and Sister Caterina Giraudo, were abducted in Kenya, where they are well-known for their generous dedication to the very poor," Father Federico Lombardi said in Vatican statement.

Benedict was following "the protraction of their kidnapping with concern," Lombardi said.