THE global “Day of Rage” against the world’s financial system won some limited sympathy from political and economic leaders yesterday, after protests that were peaceful everywhere but Italy.

Rome is tallying up the costs a day after rioters hijacked a peaceful protest and smashed bank and store windows, ripped up pavements and torched vehicles.

Italian police fired tear gas and water cannons in Rome today as violent protesters turned a demonstration against corporate greed into a riot, smashing shop and bank windows, torching cars and hurling bottles.

FOUR children have died in a fire at a Roma camp in the Italian capital, rekindling a debate over their housing conditions.

Four children have died in a fire at a Roma camp in the Italian capital, rekindling a debate over their housing conditions.

Rome has today abandoned plans to host a Formula One grand prix.

A pair of parcel bombs exploded at the Swiss and Chilean embassies in Rome today, injuring the two people who opened them.

A SUSPICIOUS package full of wires and powder was found yesterday in a metro car in Rome, prompting a terror scare during the Christmas season.

ITALIANS voiced shock yesterday after violent protests set off by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s narrow victory in a vote in parliament that leaves his government hanging by a thread.

The Vatican will review its security procedures after a woman jumped a barrier and rushed at Pope Benedict XVI for the second time in two years.

Bernie Ecclestone has agreed a deal which would see Formula One come to the streets of Rome, according to course planner Maurizio Flammini.

BARCELONA’S Thierry Henry and Andres Iniesta continued their respective bids to be fit for the Champions League final as they returned to squad training yesterday, but not at the same intensity as their team-mates.

Authorities in Rome have enforced a blanket ban on the sale of alcohol in a bid to stave off the threat of trouble between Manchester United and Barcelona fans.

Formula One could be staged in Rome by 2012.

Rome’s mayor has ordered an investigation after two dozen Afghan children were found living in wretched conditions in tunnels under train stations around the city.

THE mayor of Co Waterford has extended his sympathies to the family of a man feared drowned after slipping into the River Tiber in Rome.

Rome declared a state of emergency as the swollen Tiber river threatened to flood and the death toll from the heavy rains battering Italy rose to four.

Italy’s top opposition leader today denounced attacks on Gypsy camps, as Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s new government prepared a crackdown on immigration and the European Parliament agreed to a debate on how Gypsies are treated in Italy.

Europe has accelerated its efforts to combat bird flu as Italy called for EU aid for affected fowl raisers, Germany ordered a limited cull of poultry and France grappled with its first case of the lethal H5N1 strain confirmed in a wild duck.

ITALIAN hostage Giuliana Sgrena, shot and wounded after being freed in Iraq claimed that US forces may have deliberately targeted her because Washington opposed Italy’s policy of dealing with kidnappers.