ROME

Pope Benedict spoke out on Friday against legal recognition for unmarried couples and ”dismal theories” on the rights of gays to marry, which he said stripped men and women of their innate sexual identity. ”I cannot hide my concern about legislation on de facto couples,” the pope said in a Christmas address to the Rome clergy.

Rome’s second-largest airport, Ciampino, briefly closed early on Tuesday following an anonymous telephone call claiming that a bomb was on board a cargo plane, airport officials said. Inspections of aircraft found no evidence of a bomb and Ciampino was reopened about an hour later, officials said. Six flights had been rerouted east to the city of Pescara.

AS Roma’s bid for the Serie A title gathered momentum when Francesco Totti scored twice to give them a 2-1 win at AC Milan on Saturday. The Roma captain struck first in the seventh minute when he volleyed crisply past Milan keeper Dida. Cristian Brocchi equalised early in the second half, but in the 83rd minute Totti grabbed the winner, heading in a cross by Brazilian winger Mancini.

The fate of a toilet that flushes to the strains of Italy’s national anthem is in the hands of a tribunal following a complaint from a right-wing political party, a museum spokesperson said on Tuesday. The creation was part of an exhibit, titled Group Therapy, that opened at the museum of modern art in Bolzano in September.

Retired world champion driver Michael Schumacher is to stay with Ferrari as assistant to new CEO Jean Todt, the Italian outfit announced at Monza on Sunday. The 37-year-old Schumacher retired as a driver after piloting his Ferrari to fourth place in the Brazilian Grand Prix last Sunday. The German won a record seven world titles and was with Ferrari as driver from 1996 until he retired.

Juventus had its penalty in the Italian match-fixing scandal reduced by eight points on Friday. The Turin club jumped from 20th place in the second-division standings to 12th. Juventus was stripped of its 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles, demoted to Serie B, and docked 17 points by a sports tribunal in July.

A train on Rome’s underground metro system rammed into the back of another at high speed on Tuesday, killing at least one person and injuring 110 others, five seriously, authorities said. Earlier, officials had said two people had been killed. The difference was apparently due to confusion at the scene.

Two trains on Rome’s underground metro system collided on Tuesday and as many 60 people were reported injured, some of them seriously. One report said some passengers were still trapped underground. Atac, the Rome metro operator, confirmed reports of the crash at Piazza Vittorio underground station in the city centre but could not provide any more details.

Hijackers seeking to send a message to Pope Benedict seized control of a Turkish passenger plane flying from the Albanian capital Tirana to Istanbul on Tuesday, and were forced by interceptor jets to land in Italy. ”As far as we know, the hijackers want to talk with Italian authorities to send a message to the Pope,” a spokesperson for Italy’s civil aviation authority Enac told the media.

Italy defender Marco Materazzi has broken his silence over the verbal exchange that led to his violent World Cup final clash with French star Zinedine Zidane. Materazzi was sent crashing to the turf by a Zidane headbutt near the end of extra-time of the July 9 final in Berlin following a verbal altercation.

Juventus, who were relegated to Serie B and given a 17-point penalty for the start of the forthcoming season for match-fixing, are considering cancelling their civil court action if the Italian Football Federation reduces their punishment. The Turin club were ready to take their case outside of the sports authorities.

A bomb threat scrawled on a sick bag caused a British passenger plane from London to Egypt to be diverted to southern Italy on Friday, but police said it appeared to be a false alarm. ”The alarm has been called off,” said Brindisi border police chief Salvatore de Paolis.

Italian international goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has said he intends to stay with Juventus despite the club being relegated to the second division for involvement in match-fixing. Buffon told Turin’s La Stampa newspaper that he had no intention of following other top names who have joined other clubs.

French midfielder Patrick Vieira has sealed his move to Inter Milan from crisis-torn Juventus, the Turin club announced on Wednesday. The transfer will cost Inter €9,5-million, payable over three years, said Juve, who were last week stripped of the Serie A titles they won in 2005-06 and in 2004-05 and relegated to the second division with a 17-point penalty for match-fixing.

The four Serie A clubs found guilty of match-fixing will learn later on Tuesday whether their appeals for lighter sentences have proved successful. Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina have all been found guilty by the Italian football federation of committing sporting fraud in the 2004/05 season.

The appeals in Italian football’s match-fixing scandal began early on Saturday in a Rome hotel, Italian media reported. A sporting tribunal must decide whether to confirm the relegation of Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio to the second division for their part in influencing which referees were selected for their matches last season.

Juventus, Lazio and Fiorentina reacted with fury on Friday after they were all relegated from Italian football’s top-division and banned from Europe for their part in the country’s match-fixing scandal. Juventus were also deducted 30 points from their total for next season and stripped of their last two league titles.

The remains of the celebrated 18th-century Italian castrato Farinelli have been exhumed to find more about his peculiar powers as a singer, a university professor said on Thursday. The remains were removed from a cemetery in the northern city of Bologna where the singer died in 1782.

Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio will be relegated to the Italian second division, according to a report in the Gazetta dello Sport newspaper on Friday. Italy’s premier sports newspaper claimed it was revealing the long-anticipated ruling in Italy’s match-fixing scandal, due to be given on Friday evening.

Fifa may strip disgraced French skipper Zinedine Zidane of his World Cup best player award, the organisation’s president Sepp Blatter has told Italian newspapers. Zidane was announced as the winner of the prestigious award on Monday morning, the day after the World Cup final which saw him sent off for head-butting an Italian opponent.

Italy’s march into the World Cup final at the expense of Germany was met with banner headlines in the Italian press on Wednesday. The 2-0 extra-time win over the hosts in Dortmund was an historic one for the Italians, ”who could beat anyone — even the Martians” wrote the Roman newspaper Il Messaggero.

Italian football went on trial on Thursday at a sports tribunal hearing in Rome that will decide whether four of the country’s top clubs colluded to rig matches over a period of several years. The scandal, which broke last month, has dominated headlines in football-crazed Italy, and could result in the teams being excluded from European competition and relegated to second-division play.