ROME (Reuters) – Italian consumer morale fell to its lowest in more than three years in October as a worsening euro zone debt crisis depressed prospects for the economy, data showed on Tuesday.

National statistics bureau ISTAT’s headline consumer confidence index fell for the fifth month running to 92.9 in October from 94.2 in September, hitting its lowest level since July 2008, when the global economic crisis was intensifying.

ROME, Oct 17 (Reuters) – A U.N. intergovernmental body on
food security has failed to adopt international guidelines on
land governance, delaying efforts to regulate so-called
land-grabbing as investors race to snap up agricultural land.

A voluntary code of conduct has been in the works since
2008, driven by concerns that countries such as China and Gulf
Arab states are buying swathes of land in Africa and Asia to
secure their own food supplies, often at the expense of local
people.

ROME (Reuters) – Hundreds of hooded demonstrators clashed with police in some of the worst violence in the Italian capital for years Saturday, setting cars on fire and breaking shop and bank windows.

Police repeatedly fired teargas and water canon in attempts to disperse them but the clashes with hard-core demonstrators continued hours after tens of thousands of people in Rome joined a global “day of rage” against bankers and politicians.

ROME (Reuters) – Hundreds of hooded demonstrators clashed with police in some of the worst violence in the Italian capital for years on Saturday, setting cars on fire and breaking shop and bank windows.

Police repeatedly fired teargas and water canon in attempts to disperse them but the clashes with hard-core demonstrators continued hours after tens of thousands of people in Rome joined a global “day of rage” against bankers and politicians.

ROME, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Food prices are likely to become
more volatile in coming years, increasing the risk that more
poor people in import-dependent countries will go hungry, the
United Nations said in an annual report on food insecurity
published on Monday.

Global food price indices hit record highs in February and
were a factor in the Arab Spring of unrest in north Africa and
the Middle East.

ROME, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Wikipedia has disabled its Italian
website in protest against a privacy law drafted by Silvio
Berlusconi’s government which would impose new restrictions on
newspapers and Internet pages and curb police wiretaps.

The online encyclopedia warned it may shut its page
www.wikipedia.it permanently because of provisions in
the law forcing websites to correct content deemed detrimental
to a person’s image within 48 hours of a complaint, with no
right of appeal.

NEW YORK/ROME (Reuters) – Moody’s lowered its rating on Italy’s bonds by three notches on Tuesday, saying it saw a “material increase” in funding risks for euro zone countries with high levels of debt and warning that further downgrades were possible.

The agency downgraded Italy to A2 from Aa2, a lower rating than it holds on Estonia and on a par with Malta and kept a negative outlook on the rating.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Sunday rejected opposition and lobby groups’ calls for the government to resign over the country’s economic woes and said the ruling centre-right coalition was solid and would push on with reforms.

Pressure rose on Berlusconi this week after Standard and Poor’s cut Italy’s credit rating by one notch and warned of a deteriorating growth outlook, prompting widespread criticism of the government and daily calls for it to step down.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Sunday rejected opposition and lobby groups’ calls for the government to resign over the country’s economic woes and said the ruling center-right coalition was solid and would push on with reforms.

Pressure rose on Berlusconi this week after Standard and Poor’s cut Italy’s credit rating by one notch and warned of a deteriorating growth outlook, prompting widespread criticism of the government and daily calls for it to step down.

ROME/ATHENS , Sept 20 (Reuters) – Standard & Poor’s cut
Italy’s credit rating on Tuesday in a surprise move that
increased strains on the debt-stressed euro zone, and the
International Monetary Fund said Europe’s leaders were failing
to act decisively enough to resolve the crisis.

Analysts said the one-notch downgrade, citing poor growth
prospects and political instability, was ominous for the global
economy and would add to mounting strains on European banks as
talks to avoid a Greek default drag on.