Milan - Inter Milan Friday rescinded the contract of Adriano after the Brazil striker recently failed to return from international duty.

Inter said Adriano's contract with the Serie A team had been ended with effect from April 1.

"Inter's appreciation goes to Adriano for the eight years and 74 goals we lived through together," the club said on its website.

After the last international break, Adriano, 27, failed to board a scheduled flight for Italy on April 3 and did not communicate his decision to his agent and Inter.

Milan - Some 150 refugees from Africa demanding housing and jobs have interrupted the Milan Furniture and Design Fair with sitdown protests and demonstrations, Italian media reported Thursday.

The action came after police evicted around 300 refugees from a block of flats they had occupied.

Some of the mainly political refugees from war zones such as Eritrea and Somalia found accommodation in church institutions. Around 150 continued their protest.

Milan  - It's back to business in tennis for formerly banned Filippo Volandri after the Italian earned moral revenge as his three-month doping sanction was reversed on appeal.

The one-time number 25 clay-courter copped a three-month ban in January for a proscribed substance used in his asthma inhaler. But Volandri's lawyers successfully argued their case and got an overturn of the penalty by the international court of sports (CAS) in Lausanne.

Milan - The Milan-San Remo cycling race that starts on Saturday is being held for the 100th time and for the anniversary a special guest will be competing: Lance Armstrong.

The seven-time Tour de France winner, who last year announced that he would be staging a comeback after retiring at the end of the 2005 season, has so far this year participated in the Tour Down Under in Australia and the Tour of California.

Milan - Italian cyclist Gi

Milan - Italian state sponsorship for a film based on a memoir by a former leftist terrorist has sparked outrage among relatives of victims of the wave of urban guerrilla attacks that bloodied the country in the 1970s and '80s.

On Thursday a top anti-terrorism prosecutor, Armando Spataro, also criticized the 1.5 million euro (1.8 million dollars) subsidy for the film, the Corriere della Sera daily said.

The film is budgeted for 6.4 million dollars according to trade publication Variety.