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The financial crisis that began in Greece last month and spread to other ‘PIGS’ countries (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain) is raising old doubts about the long-term viability of the EU’s monetary union.

Feb. 9 (BBC News) - Dozens of people including pro-government militia have tried to attack Italy's embassy in Iran, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini says.

WASHINGTON November 25, 2009 (New York Times) — The United States is scrambling to coax NATO allies to send 10,000 additional troops to Afghanistan as part of President Obama’s strategy for the region. Those countries appear willing to provide fewer than half that number, American and allied officials said Wednesday.

November 4, 2009 (NY TImes) - In a landmark ruling, an Italian judge on Wednesday convicted a base chief for the Central Intelligence Agency and 22 other American C.I.A. operatives of kidnapping a Muslim cleric from the streets of Milan in 2003.

October 15, 2009 (Al Jazeera) - A British newspaper report alleging 10 French soldiers died in Afghanistan because Italy failed to inform them of a Taliban payoff deal has been strongly denied by both Italy and France.

October 14, 2009 (AFP) - Ten French soldiers killed in Afghanistan failed to realise the risks in the area because Italian officials had secretly paid the Taliban to desist from violence, a British newspaper said Thursday.

October 7, 2009 (NY Times) - The energy giant Exxon Mobil has agreed to pay about $4 billion for a minority stake in an oil field off the coast of Ghana, a region that has emerged as a major new petroleum province, a person with knowledge of the matter said Tuesday.

After decades in charge, the club of rich, industrialised nations is fast losing sway as a share of global economic power shifts towards big developing countries.  

MADRID September 11, 2009 (AFP) — Spain's biggest oil company, Repsol YPF SA, said Friday it had made what could be its largest gas discovery off Venezuela, and one of the largest discoveries in the world, in an exploration partnership with Italy's Eni.

June 12, 2009 (Bloomberg) - Japan is investigating reports two of its citizens were detained in Italy after allegedly attempting to take $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds over the border into Switzerland.