The Church should ask itself daily whether it is resisting new challenges and remaining “barricaded in transient structures which have lost their capacity for openness to what is new,” he said.

“Newness always makes us a bit fearful, because we feel more secure if we have everything under control,” Francis said in his homily in front of a packed St. Peter’s Square, adding that change can bring fulfillment.

The Pentecost Mass marks the day the Church says the Holy Spirit descended on Christ’s apostles, or disciples, and is regarded as the birthday of the Church.

Francis warned of the threat of an institution which is “self-referential, closed in on herself,” and spoke of the courage to “take to the streets of the world” and reach “the very outskirts of existence”.

Later he toured the square in an open-top white vehicle, greeting cheering crowds and kissing young children.

Since his election in March as the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, Francis has been urging Church leaders to go out into their communities and help the poor and suffering, rather than focusing on internal politics.

Morale among the faithful has been hit by a widespread child sex abuse scandal involving Catholic priests and in-fighting and careerism in the Church government or curia.

The 76-year-old former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires has given clear signs he will bring a new broom to the papacy, favoring humility and simplicity over pomp and grandeur.

He has set up an advisory board of cardinals from around the world to help him reform a Vatican administration which has been held responsible for some of the mishaps and scandals that plagued the eight-year reign of his predecessor Benedict.

At a vigil on Saturday evening, Francis said Catholics must become courageous and seek out the people who need help the most rather than sitting around, dissecting theology.

(Reporting by Catherine Hornby; Editing by Jon Hemming)

More than 1,900 species of insects are eaten around the
world, mainly in Africa and Asia, but people in the West
generally turn their noses up at the likes of grasshoppers,
termites and other crunchy fare.

The authors of the study by the Forestry Department, part of
the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said many
insects contained the same amount of protein and minerals as
meat and more healthy fats doctors recommend in balanced diets.

“In the West we have a cultural bias, and think that because
insects come from developing countries, they cannot be good,”
said scientist Arnold van Huis from Wageningen University in the
Netherlands, one of the authors of the report.

Eva Muller of the FAO said restaurants in Europe were
starting to offer insect-based dishes, presenting them to diners
as exotic delicacies.

Danish restaurant Noma, for example, crowned the world’s
best for three years running in one poll, is renowned for
ingredients including ants and fermented grasshoppers.

As well as helping in the costly battle against obesity,
which the World Health Organisation estimates has nearly doubled
since 1980 and affects around 500 million people, the report
said insect farming was likely to be less land-dependent than
traditional livestock and produce fewer greenhouse gases.

It would also provide business and export opportunities for
poor people in developing countries, especially women, who are
often responsible for collecting insects in rural communities.

Van Huis said barriers to enjoying dishes such as bee larvae
yoghurt were psychological – in a blind test carried out by his
team, nine out of 10 people preferred meatballs made from
roughly half meat and half mealworms to those made from meat.

(Reporting by Catherine Hornby; Editing by Philip Pullella and
Mike Collett-White)

Cecile Kyenge, an eye doctor and Italian citizen originally from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was named integration minister by Prime Minister Enrico Letta last Saturday, one of seven women in the new government.

Since then, she has been the subject of taunts on far-right websites, which have branded her with names such as “Congolese monkey”, “Zulu” and “the black anti-Italian”.

She also faced race-tinged insults from Mario Borghezio, a European parliament member of the pro-devolution Northern League, which has been allied in the past with former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

In reference to Kyenge, Borghezio called Letta’s coalition a “bonga bonga government” – a play on the “bunga, bunga” antics under Berlusconi – and said she herself appeared to be “a good housewife but not a minister”.

Kyenge dismissed the comments, which the speaker of the lower house Laura Boldrini labeled “racist vulgarities”. Kyenge plans to push for legislation, opposed by the League, that would allow children born in Italy to immigrant parents to get automatic citizenship instead of waiting until 18 to apply.

“I arrived in Italy alone at 18 years old, and I don’t believe in giving up in front of obstacles,” Kyenge, who left DRC so she could pursue her studies in medicine, said.

She also rejected the term “colored” used to describe her in many Italian press reports, saying: “I am not colored, I am black and I say it with pride”.

Millions of emigrants left Italy in the 19th and 20th centuries but the country has had difficulties integrating citizens from other countries who come seeking work.

Kyenge, who is married to an Italian, said she did not view Italy as a particularly racist country, and believed that hostile attitudes stem mainly from ignorance.

“Italy has a tradition of welcoming and offering hospitality towards others. We need to recognize these traditions and apply them day to day,” she said.

Boldrini herself told a newspaper on Friday that she had received daily death threats online and a stream of messages containing sexually violent images.

“When a woman takes up public office, sexist aggression sets off against her, and whether simple gossip or violent…it always uses the same vocabulary of humiliation and submission,” Boldrini told La Repubblica newspaper.

“We shouldn’t be afraid to say that this is an underground culture, shared in some way. In my view: an emergency in Italy,” she said, pointing to regular cases of Italian women being murdered or abused by men, often by husbands or partners.

(Reporting By Catherine Hornby; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Food prices spiked over the summer of 2012 fuelled by a
historic drought in the United States and dry weather in other
major producers. Prices eased slightly towards the end of last
year but have been nudging higher again for the past two months.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) price index,
which measures monthly price changes for a basket of cereals,
oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 212.4 points in March,
up 1 percent from 210.7 in February and its highest since
October 2012.

“All the dynamic this month comes from the dairy,” said FAO
senior economist Concepcion Calpe. “In general the situation is
relatively calm.”

FAO’s dairy price sub-index jumped 22 points in March to
225.3, one of its largest changes ever recorded.

The rise was fuelled mainly by prolonged hot, dry weather in
Oceania which has hit pastures and led to milk production
falling off steeply and a subsequent decrease in processing of
dairy products, which include butter, cheese and milk powder.

FAO’s dairy products index is based on prices in the world’s
largest dairy exporter New Zealand, which have climbed as buyers
bid against each other to meet commitments.

A usual spring surge in milk production in Europe has also
been slowed down by unfavourable weather limiting pasture
growth, FAO said.

When pastures are hit by dry weather, cows produce less milk
or need supplementary feedstuffs, which push up costs.

Cereals prices on the other hand were little changed, and
Calpe said they could see declines in coming months due to the
prospect of a strong recovery in output.

“We are optimistic for the coming crops. The previous year
was particularly bad so barring something dramatic the direction
should be upwards for production,” she said. “If this is what
happens we could see prices trending downwards.”

Grain prices, which touched record highs late last summer,
have been under pressure recently as acreage dedicated to crops
has increased, reserves look fatter than previously thought, and
livestock producers have cut herd sizes due to high feed costs.

HIGHER OUTPUT

FAO maintained its forecast for world wheat production in
2013 at 690 million tonnes, up 4.4 percent from last year. It
expected world cereal stocks at the close of seasons ending in
2013 to approach 500 million tonnes.

The Rome-based agency also raised its estimate of world
cereal output in 2012 to 2.309 billion tonnes, up 3 million
tonnes from a forecast made in March, but still 2 percent below
record production in 2011.

Other food types included in the index showed mixed trends.
Oils and fats prices fell 2.5 percent from February due to a
favourable supply outlook, and meat prices also fell on adequate
export supplies and a small reduction in feed prices.

Sugar prices rose due to a short-term supply disruption
caused by delays at ports in Brazil, the world’s largest sugar
producer and exporter.

The FAO’s index is below a record peak of 237.9 points hit
in February 2011, when high food prices helped drive the Arab
Spring uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa.

Over the summer last year, global food prices spiked for the
third time in four years, with the index reaching 215.7 points
in September 2012, close to levels since during the 2008 food
crisis which sparked riots in several poor countries.

(Reporting By Catherine Hornby; editing by Steve Scherer and
Keiron Henderson)

Italy has been in limbo since a February election gave no bloc enough votes to govern alone. The center left won a majority in the lower house but not in the Senate, and a huge protest vote for the populist 5-Star Movement has split parliament three ways.

Center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani has so far rebuffed repeated overtures from center-right leader Berlusconi to form a coalition, while failing in his own attempts to woo 5-Star leader Beppe Grillo to form an alliance. The result has been deadlock.

Some prominent members of Bersani’s Democratic Party (PD) have started to challenge his approach, with Florence mayor Matteo Renzi urging him on Thursday either to agree to a coalition with Berlusconi or demand a new election.

PD deputy and former leader Dario Franceschini opened up to negotiations with Berlusconi in an interview with Corriere della Sera daily on Saturday, saying it was time for the PD to “abandon the superiority complex”.

“Whether we like it or not, Italians have decided that (Berlusconi) is head of the right, a right who received almost the same amount of votes as us. It is him we need to speak to,” Franceschini said.

He stopped short of backing Berlusconi’s plan for a broad coalition, saying instead there was room to discuss a transitional government that could carry out pressing reforms for the economy, which is stuck in a deep recession.

Echoing Franceschini’s views, the head of the PD in the lower house, Roberto Speranza, told Corriere on Sunday that Berlusconi’s legitimacy comes from the votes he receives, which he said can’t be considered “second class votes”.

The comments in favor of dialogue with Berlusconi, whose multiple trials and sex scandals have left him discredited in the eyes of many politicians, prompted other members of the PD to reaffirm their opposition to any kind of discussion with his People of Freedom (PDL) party.

ABSOLUTE CLOSURE

Senator Laura Puppato said on her web site that suggestions of forming a government with Berlusconi were “a catastrophe for Italy and for the PD”.

Another PD Senator, Felice Casson, said on Saturday the party must show “absolute closure” to Berlusconi.

“We can’t allow ourselves to have anything to do with him for all that he represents,” Italian news agency ANSA quoted him as saying during a party conference.

Former prime minister Berlusconi was forced from power in 2011 by a mounting debt crisis. The 76-year-old media billionaire is appealing against a conviction for tax fraud and is accused of paying for sex with a minor in a separate case.

But he is once-more a key player on Italy’s political scene, with recent polls showing his center-right alliance could come out on top in any new election.

On Saturday he said his party was ready to present eight bills to parliament, including a proposal to abolish a hated housing tax, in an attempt to seize the initiative despite the deadlock.

Prominent members of Berlusconi’s PDL have welcomed the more open approach of some center-left lawmakers.

“Only Bersani and a group of faithful are still anchored to a strategy that makes no sense,” said Renato Brunetta, the PDL’s lower house leader. “The rest of the PD is asking about possible solutions to the deadlock…for them too the moment for dialogue with the PDL has arrived.”

(Reporting by Catherine Hornby; Editing by Peter Graff)

The government approved a decree intended to provide vital liquidity to cash-strapped firms and help tackle a deep recession in the euro zone’s third-largest economy. But industry groups said it would still be difficult for businesses to claim their money despite the measures.

The massive backlog of bills owed by Italy’s public administration has been a longstanding source of complaint by companies struggling to raise credit from banks facing increasingly tight credit conditions themselves.

Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Saturday that delayed payments to state supplier companies was “an unacceptable situation that has been accepted for a long time”.

Monti, who continues to lead a caretaker government after Italy’s inconclusive February election, has been in talks with the European Commission, which is concerned about the impact the decree will have on Italy’s deficit and its massive public debt.

The measures were originally due to be approved on Wednesday but were delayed due to doubts over how they would be funded.

Monti said on Saturday the government was committed to remaining within the European Union’s fiscal deficit ceiling of 3 percent of gross domestic product.

“Economic policy is not changing course, and we don’t share the view that to revive the economy you have to create more public debt,” he told a news conference.

Last month the government eased its deficit target for this year to 2.9 percent of GDP from a previous target of 1.8 percent, partly to allow the payments to private firms.

The government plans to use new bond issuance to help towards settling the bills. It will ask local authorities to set out a plan of repayment to the central state within 30 years.

“We have to follow a path between the two requirements: to help our economy to recover… and to maintain budget discipline,” Economy Minister Vittorio Grilli said. “It’s a narrow path but a path that is absolutely viable.”

Grilli said the government planned to examine its fiscal performance again in September and the Economy Ministry would be able to adopt corrective measures if the deficit looked likely to breach the “precautionary” limit of 2.9 percent.

PAYMENTS COULD START MONDAY

He said payments to companies could begin as soon as the decree is published officially, expected as early as Monday.

Grilli is due to meet European economics affairs commissioner Olli Rehn in Brussels on Monday to explain the new measures, a government source told Reuters.

Monti said he was hopeful Rome would be able to exit the European Commission’s excessive deficit procedure, which imposes corrective measures on countries that exceed the deficit threshold, in May.

Italy has faced weeks in political limbo with no party able to form a government while economic problems pile up.

Public finance data so far this year has not been encouraging, with borrowing in the first quarter higher than the same period of 2012.

The government says settling the bills will provide a sorely needed cash injection for an economy now stuck in its longest recession for 20 years.

But it has proved difficult to find the money to pay the companies, most in the healthcare and construction sectors, which have total accumulated claims estimated by the Bank of Italy at some 90 billion euros at the end of 2011.

Italy will hike its target for government bond issuance in 2013 and 2014 to pay off a portion of the outstanding debts, a senior treasury source told Reuters on Thursday.

Industry groups criticized the decree on Saturday, with small business association Rete Imprese saying the process for companies to be paid was too complicated.

“The proposed mechanism makes it almost impossible for firms to recover what they are owed,” said Rete Imprese President Carlo Sangalli.

(Additional reporting by Antonella Cinelli and Giselda Vagnoni; Editing by Jason Webb)

The treatment, created by the privately-owned Stamina Foundation, was banned by Italian medicines regulator AIFA last year after it inspected their laboratories, leading to a series of legal challenges by families of patients.

In early March, Health Minister Renato Balduzzi allowed a terminally ill child to continue using the Stamina treatment after hearing the emotional pleas of her parents.

The Health Ministry then issued an official decree on March 21 allowing 32 patients, mainly children, already using the treatment to continue it.

Scientists from around Europe released a statement on Thursday criticizing the decree, warning that Balduzzi was “riding roughshod over existing European licensing criteria”, failing to protect patients from exploitation and ignoring the need for sound evidence that therapies are effective.

“These unproven and ill-prepared stem cell therapies, for which there is no scientific basis, will do nothing for patients and their families except make them poorer,” said Charles French-Constant from the University of Edinburgh’s Center for Regenerative Medicine.

“DANGEROUS PRECEDENT”

Advocates of the therapy say strict regulations work in favor of big drug companies with their portfolio of blockbuster treatments, reducing the pool of potential competitors. But scientists said Stamina’s treatment was unproven and risky.

“There is no rationale for this and no evidence that these procedures are not dangerous for patients,” said Professor Michele De Luca of the University of Modena.

“This creates a dangerous precedent,” he said, adding that anyone could use media pressure and take advantage of patients’ hopes of skirting normal evidence-based procedures.

Stem cells are the body’s mother cells and can self-renew or multiply while maintaining the ability to transform into any type of cell.

Stem cell therapy involves introducing new adult stem cells into damaged tissue to treat disease. A number of therapies exist but many remain at the experimental stage.

Several judges presiding over the cases brought by patients’ families ruled the Stamina treatment should be available under a law that permits the use of unproven therapies for patients who are dying and have no other options.

Supporters of the therapy have held rallies calling for it to be made available to anyone with an incurable disease. One woman staging a near-naked protest in a Rome square with “yes to life, yes to Stamina” scrawled on her body.

Scientists warned that a complication or death as a result of such an untested therapy could become an obstacle for the advancement of all stem cell therapies.

“This would include some of the more promising therapies that have a strong scientific rationale for working in patients with certain types of disorders such as Parkinson’s disease,” said Roger Barker, Professor of Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge.

(Editing by Rosalind Russell)

Kercher’s half-naked body, with more than 40 wounds and a deep gash in the throat, was found in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia, where both were studying during a year abroad in 2007.

Prosecutors accused Knox and Italian Sollecito of killing the 21-year-old Leeds University student during a drug-fuelled sexual assault that got out of hand.

The two, who always professed their innocence, were initially found guilty in 2009 and sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison respectively after a trial that grabbed headlines around the world.

In 2011, their convictions were quashed after forensic experts challenged evidence in the original trial, prompting accusations of a botched police investigation and leaving many aspects of the killing unexplained.

They were released after four years in prison and Knox returned to her family home near Seattle immediately afterwards.

On Tuesday, the Court of Cassation overturned the acquittal and accepted a request for a retrial from prosecutors and Kercher family lawyers who had criticized the earlier ruling as “contradictory and illogical”.

Unlike law in the United States and some other countries, the Italian system does not contain so-called “double jeopardy” provisions that prevent a defendant being tried twice for the same offence.

The court has not yet provided a full reasoning of its decision and a date has not yet been set for the new trial, which will be held in an appeals court in Florence, rather than Perugia, where the original trials were conducted.

The decision was immediately welcomed by the Kercher family lawyer Francesco Maresca who said it would provide an opportunity to find out what happened to Meredith.

“This is an important day for the Italian justice system,” he said outside the court, criticizing the earlier judgment acquitting Knox and Sollecito as “extremely superficial”.

“I’ve spoken to the family and Stephanie, her sister, is very happy, she’s trying to understand what happens now.”

PAINFUL

Knox released a statement through her spokesman David Marriott describing the court’s decision as “painful” and said the prosecution’s theory had repeatedly been revealed as “unfounded and unfair,”.

She has not yet discussed whether she will return to Italy for the trial, Marriott said.

Knox, dubbed “Foxy Knoxy” in many early media reports, was initially portrayed as a sex-obsessed “she devil” by prosecutors but a lobbying campaign by her family helped change perceptions and she is due to publish a book of memoirs in April.

“She was very sad, she thought that this nightmare was over,” Carlo della Vedova, one of her legal team told reporters after speaking to Knox. “At the same time she is ready, we went through all this before, we are strong enough and strong enough to fight again.”

Tuesday’s ruling examined whether there were procedural irregularities which gave grounds for a retrial, rather than assessing the details of the case, which remain obscure in many particulars.

A lawyer for 29-year-old Sollecito said the decision was not a guilty verdict for her client but just meant the court wanted a more in-depth examination of some aspects of the case.

“Unfortunately we have to continue the battle,” Giulia Bongiorno told reporters.

Sollecito was continuing studies in the northern city of Verona, another lawyer was quoted as saying by Ansa news agency.

Maurizio Bellacosa, a criminal law professor at Rome’s LUISS University, said he expected the new trial would begin in less than a year.

If Knox is convicted of murder in the new trial, her lawyers will be able to appeal again, said criminal law expert Graziano Cecchetti from Italian law firm Giambrone Law.

Both experts said for now Knox was free to decide herself whether to return to Italy or not but the Italian government could request extradition if she is found guilty of the murder and her conviction is backed by the Court of Cassation.

‘WHY PUT HER THROUGH THIS?’

Around Seattle, where Knox and her family live, people expressed support for their neighbor.

A “Free Amanda Knox” bumper sticker had been affixed to a red car in the driveway of Knox’s mother’s house. The message, “The world loves Amanda Knox” had been carved into a gray cement block that was propped against the garage.

A young woman who answered the door at the two-story house and identified herself as Amanda’s younger sister declined to comment.

Nearby, neighbor Lois Silver said she had been saddened by the news that Italian authorities wanted to retry Knox.

“If there’s no proof, why put her through this? I wish it were over for them,” she said. “I wish they didn’t have to go through this.”

Robb Orr, a 35-year-old writer who said he lives in Amanda Knox’s neighborhood, was sympathetic.

“The case seemed really poorly put together. It seemed more like a witch hunt,” Orr said. “I am sure it was a horrible, horrible thing to go through, and it would be nice if she could just move on with her life.”

Much of the attention of the case was focused on the carefree image of foreign students enjoying a year abroad in the medieval town in central Italy as well as on lurid stories of sex and heavy partying.

Prosecutors had said that Kercher was held down and stabbed after she resisted attempts by Knox, Sollecito and a third man, Ivorian Rudy Guede, to involve her in an orgy in the apartment the two women shared in the town.

However their case was weakened by forensic experts who undermined the credibility of DNA evidence provided by police and made strong criticisms of their first response procedures at the scene of the killing.

(Additional reporting by Eric Johnson and Laura Myers in Seattle and James Mackenzie and Gavin Jones; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

Kercher’s body, with more than 40 wounds and a deep gash in the throat, was found in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia in 2007.

Prosecutors accused Knox and Raffaele Sollecito of killing the 21-year-old Leeds University student during a drug-fuelled sexual assault.

The two were initially found guilty and sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison respectively after a trial that grabbed world attention and drew stinging censure of the investigation by independent experts appointed to review evidence in the case.

In 2011, their convictions were quashed after forensic investigators challenged scientific evidence in the original trial. They were released after four years in prison and Knox returned home to the United States.

On Tuesday the Court of Cassation added a further twist by overturning the acquittal, accepting a request from prosecutors and Kercher family lawyers for a retrial, which will be held at a court in Florence.

“This is an important day for the Italian justice system,” Kercher family lawyer Francesco Maresca said outside the court.

The case that led to the acquittals was “superficial” and “leaked from all sides,”. he said.

Knox said the decision was “painful”. The prosecution had repeatedly been revealed as “unfounded and unfair,” she said in a statement.

Her lawyer Luciano Ghirga said outside the court it was unclear if she would come back to Italy for the retrial.

Knox, dubbed “Foxy Knoxy” in many early media reports, was initially portrayed as promiscuous and dishonest but a lobbying campaign by her family helped change perceptions.

She returned to her Seattle-area home after she was released from prison in Italy and had been scheduled to speak publicly about the trial for the first time on American television in April, when her book of memoirs is also due to be released.

BATTLE

A third person, Ivorian Rudy Guede, was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years in a separate trial. He is now the only person serving time for the murder, although prosecutors say he could not have killed Kercher by himself.

“We are convinced there were more people in that room than Rudy Guede,” Maresca said. “We are asking the judges to tell us something on this point, as long as their decision is well-grounded and thorough, not like the appeals court which was absolutely superficial.”

Last year, prosecutors filed a motion to appeal against the acquittal, calling the verdicts “contradictory and illogical”.

Italy’s appeal court made the ruling on Tuesday after examining whether there were procedural irregularities which gave grounds for a retrial, rather than assessing the details of the case. Its reasons will be announced later.

Giulia Bongiorno, a lawyer for Sollecito, said the decision was not a guilty verdict for her client but just meant the court wanted a more in-depth examination of some aspects of the case.

“Unfortunately we have to continue the battle,” she told reporters. “This is a sentence that says, with regards to the acquittal, that something more is needed,” she said.

(Additional reporting by James Mackenzie and Gavin Jones; Editing by Barry Moody and Angus MacSwan)

Mario Monti’s caretaker government on Thursday reversed a
March 11 decision not to send the marines back from a home visit
after Rome secured a promise from New Delhi that the two would
not face the death penalty if convicted, officials said.

The marines, part of a military security team protecting a
tanker from piracy, are accused of shooting two fishermen off
the coast of the southern Indian state of Kerala in February
2012.

They say they fired warning shots at a fishing boat believing
it to be a pirate vessel.

The sailors, Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre,
arrived back in India on Friday, accompanied by Italian deputy
Foreign Minister Staffan de Mistura.

India and Italy have been embroiled in an escalating row
over the marines, who had been allowed home for Christmas, and
then again to vote in the Italian elections in February on
condition they returned to India by Friday.

“The good news is that the potential diplomatic crisis has
been avoided,” De Mistura told a news conference in New Delhi.

But back in Italy the decision provoked an anguished
response. Michele Emiliano, the mayor of Girone’s hometown of
Bari, said he had been comforting the marine’s “despairing”
family.

“A hypocritical government is trying to end its
embarrassment by sending the sailors back to India after
exhibiting them as ‘free’ during the election campaign,”
Emiliano wrote on Twitter.

Foreign Minister Terzi defended the move in an interview
with La Repubblica daily on Friday, rejecting calls from
centre-right politicians for him to quit.

“I don’t see a reason to” resign, he said, adding that the
temporary stand-off with India had helped Italy ensure the
marines would be treated well.

India’s Supreme Court ruled in January that India had
jurisdiction to try the marines. But Italy had challenged that
decision, arguing that the shooting took place in international
waters and that the two should face any trial at home.

“We maintain our position on the marines and feel they
should face trial in Italy,” De Mistura said. “We now want the
matter to be handled fairly and urgently.”

INDIA HAPPY

Indian politicians welcomed Rome’s decision to return the
marines. “We are happy with the outcome which is consistent with
the dignity of Indian judicial process,” Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh told reporters.

Italy’s initial plan to not send the marines back had
exposed Singh’s fragile coalition, which governs with a minority
in parliament, to opposition attacks that it was too soft and
had even colluded with Italy to allow the marines to leave.

The government had demanded Italy return the sailors or face
a possible rupture in ties.

India’s chief justice went so far as to bar Italy’s
ambassador from leaving the country, but behind the scenes,
Italian and Indian officials were trying to resolve the dispute.

“There have been very intensive diplomatic contacts between
Italy and India during the last 24 hours,” said Indian foreign
ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin.

Details of the negotiations have not been disclosed but
Akbaruddin told Reuters that India and Italy had an agreement
under which convicted prisoners could serve jail time in their
home countries.

Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said in parliament that
India had assured Italy that the marines would not face the
death penalty, which only applied in the “rarest of rare cases”.

“Italy falls into line,” crowed one Indian television cable
news channel, while cabinet minister Manish Tewari said Rome’s
decision to return the sailors showed that India’s “gravitas is
being recognised across the world”.

(Reporting by Catherine Hornby, Steve Scherer in ROME and Ross
Colvin, Satarupa Bhattacharjya and Matthias Williams in NEW
DELHI; Editing by Nick Macfie and Rosalind Russell)