ITALY’S highest court has ruled that it was not an offence for a man to pat or slap a female colleague on the buttocks, provided it amounted to a one-off, fleeting action and carries no sexual connotation, London’s The Times reports. The court, which consists largely of elderly male judges, had been asked to rule in the case of a local health authority manager – sentenced to 18 months in jail and fined for patting a colleague. Protesters said the ruling reflected Italys entrenched macho culture, the newspaper reported.