The death toll from an Italian train explosion earlier this week rose to 20 today when a woman died overnight in hospital.

A general transport strike by workers demanding more investment in the sector forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights and left trains, ships and buses standing idle across Italy today.

A prosecutor began investigating a train collision at a station south of Rome that injured about 70 people – some critically, news reports said today.

FIVE people died and two others were reported missing as flash floods hit southern Italy, sweeping away bridges, cutting roads and derailing a high-speed train, officials said.

Rail travel between northern and southern Italy was blocked for a third day as demonstrators near Naples occupied train tracks to protest against a local rubbish dump.