Italian authorities say six people have died after a regional train slammed into a car that crossed the tracks.

In a real-life twist on The Sopranos, some Italian mobsters are turning to therapy for help. Frances D’Emilio reports from Reggio Calabria, Italy.

The mafia boss was having a dreadful time dealing with loss. But he was not struggling with the loss of lives, or even the loss of his freedom.

The Italian government is being urged to send in the army to help fight the ’ndrangheta mob in the wake of fresh threats against the state.

A VETERAN mobster was arrested after 17 years on the run, but a sympathetic crowd cheered him yesterday as he was escorted out of a police barracks and taken to jail.

Hundreds of immigrant workers rioted through a southern Italian town after two of them were shot in what they claim was a racist attack.

Flavia Pennetta sealed Fed Cup victory for Italy with a straight-sets win over US teenager Melanie Oudin in Reggio Calabria.

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.

Italian police have captured the top boss of the powerful 'ndrangheta organised crime syndicate whose clan feuds have bloodied the southern region for years.

A MAN armed with a box cutter barricaded himself inside a day-care centre in southern Italy yesterday with 11 children and a teacher, but police captured him hours later and all the hostages were released unhurt.

Hundreds of police raided a small town in southern Italy today, burrowing through a secret tunnel and searching homes as they arrested more than 30 suspected members of organised crime clans believed to be involved in a feud that claimed the lives of six Italians in Germany earlier this month.

Silvio Berlusconi has been campaigning to the point of exhaustion in hope of boosting fellow conservatives’ fortunes in local balloting across Italy and dealing a blow to Premier Romano Prodi, his archrival who beat him a year ago for the nation’s leadership.

A CARGO ship and a commuter hydrofoil collided near the entrance to the Sicilian port of Messina yesterday evening, injuring about 55 people, at least three of them seriously, officials said.

Italian police today said they have arrested 13 people, including a judge accused of ties with the Mafia, as part of a crackdown on organised crime in southern Italy.

GERMAN playmaker Michael Ballack’s move to Chelsea is “set in stone”, according to Bayern Munich director Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

Italian police have captured a mob boss who had been on the run for about a decade and was on the country’s list of 30 most wanted fugitives.

Fouling traffic and tempers, heavy snow fell today on much of Europe that had been deprived of anything more than a dusting for weeks, giving Rome a rare winter blanket and shutting down the main airport in Montenegro.

Italian drivers who like to use roads as their personal race-tracks are about to lose the race.

Police today captured one of Italy’s most dangerous mob fugitives as the state pressed its war on the ’ndrangheta, the Calabrian crime syndicate believed to be overtaking the Sicilian Mafia in dominance.

AC MILAN and Roma joined Juventus at the top of Serie A after securing comfortable 3-0 victories at home to Lecce and Ancona, respectively.

An overnight express train from Rome derailed this morning when it slammed into a mudslide in the southern region of Calabria during a rain storm.