Italian police have detained a man caught on video head-butting a reporter from state-run RAI television amid an interview about hissupport for a neo-fascist movement.

EVER wonder what showtime must have been like at Rome’s Colosseum? Cast your mind back to Ireland and Italy’s recent rugby showdown at the Stadio Olimpico. The Six Nations is as close as rugby gets to all-out gladiatorial combat: by the time the Irish and Italian teams were done tearing chunks out of each other, bruised and battered bodies were legion.

ITALY’S Prime Minister Romano Prodi has never been a great football fan, unlike his opposite number Silvio Berlusconi, who is both president and owner of AC Milan, as well as most of the country’s TV stations.

Olympic 400metres champion Cathy Freeman has retired from athletics.