The Irishman arrested at the Genoa protests last month for possessing a Swiss army penknife has been released and is due to return home to Dublin this evening.

Italy's Interior Minister, Claudio Scajola, has survived a vote of no confidence over the police handling of the violent protests at the G8 summit in Genoa earlier this month.

British Minister for Energy and Competitiveness in Europe, Peter Hain, has accused the Italian police of overreacting in their handling of demonstrators at the G8 summit.