One of Italy's most wanted mafia leaders was shot dead today trying to escape from police.

The execution-style killings of six Italians in Germany marks an unprecedented escalation of the operations of southern Italy’s ’ndrangheta crime syndicate, exporting a vendetta abroad for the first time, Italian officials said today.

Six Italian men were shot dead in a western German city today in an execution-style killing that Italy's interior minister said appeared to be part of a feud between two Italian organised crime clans.

Italy’s players and club officials have reacted with dismay to the decision to declare all bar six venues closed to supporters on security grounds.

Italian interior minister Giuliano Amato vowed today to resist what he said was pressure from football clubs and to ensure safety in and outside stadiums, days after a police officer died in rioting at a top match in Sicily.

The economic value of football in Italy industry will be in the minds of politicians and sports administrators when they meet on Monday to discuss long-term measures to curb fan violence at Italian soccer games.

Stocks barely budged today, ending narrowly mixed after yields on the 30-year Treasury note briefly hit 5% and investors grew skittish a day ahead of the Federal Reserve's first meeting of the year.

Italian officials today said they intend to prosecute a Turkish man for hijacking a plane, despite his appeal for political asylum on the grounds that he is being persecuted as a Christian in Muslim Turkey.

The Turk who hijacked a Turkish Airlines plane to Italy feared for his safety because he converted to Christianity and wanted to deliver a message for Pope Benedict XVI but had no physical letter, Italy’s interior minister told politicians in Rome today.