Update 1.40pm: An appeals court in Florence has rejected a bid for a new trial and possible acquittal of the only person convicted of the 2007 murder of British university student Meredith Kercher.

Britain: A London auctioneer says a diamond the size of a tennis ball, that is the largest discovered in more than a century, could sell for more than $70m (€60m).

Amanda Knox’s defence lawyer urged Italy’s highest court today to overturn the American’s conviction in the 2007 murder of her British roommate, calling it a “grave judicial error”.

Former premier Silvio Berlusconi is turning to Europe’s human rights court in a bid to avoid a ban on public office and other punishments for his tax fraud conviction, the media mogul’s aides said yesterday.

Italy’s highest criminal court yesterday ordered a new trial for Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend, overturning their acquittals in the gruesome slaying of her British roommate.