Italy

Ireland knock off Wales, France thrash Italy

The Irish, beaten 57-15 by England, won in Cardiff for the first time since August 2015 after scoring three tries in the Rugby World Cup warm-up match, two for Jacob Stockdale and a penalty try bringing Wales' 11-game home winning streak stretching back to November 2017 to an end.

 The two teams meet again next Saturday in Dublin and the defeat will rankle more with Gatland as he remains bitter about the manner in which he was dismissed as head coach by the Irish in 2001.

"It was massive for us," man of the match Jack Carty told Channel 4.

Six i-Kiribati freed, two jailed in Italy

However, Radio Kiribati reported two others had been sentenced by Italy's Court of Appeal to six and 15 years imprisonment respectively.

The eight men were arrested in October 2016 after they allegedly threw hundreds of kilograms of cocaine overboard.

Italian authorities found 385 kilogrammes of cocaine floating in 17 waterproof bags 25 kilometres from the southern port of Gioia Tauro.

The six were acquitted earlier this month and the Kiribati government paid for their repatriation.

Petaia and Gordon handed debuts

Petaia, 18, will become the youngest Wallabies debutant since James O'Connor a decade ago when he starts on the left wing.

Scrum-half Gordon also gets his chance in Padova, with Cheika making six changes of personnel following the 9-6 defeat to Wales.

Ashley-Cooper will win his first cap for over two years on the right wing, so Israel Folau reverts to full-back.

Matt Toomua comes into the side at 10 with Bernard Foley moving to the centres alongside Samu Kerevi as Kurtley Beale drops to the bench.

State of emergency follows Genoa bridge disaster

He also said he would make an initial €5m ($5.7m) available from central funds to the north-western region.

The regional government had requested the action following Tuesday's disaster, which left 39 people dead.

There has been anger and disbelief in Italy that such a vital structure could have simply given way.

Rescuers have said there is little hope of finding more survivors underneath the Morandi bridge, where dozens of vehicles fell from a height of 45m (148ft) in Tuesday morning's collapse.

England 1 Italy 1

Napoli forward Insigne fired past Jack Butland in the 87th minute after the use of VAR had seen debutant James Tarkowski punished for a challenge on Italy subsitute Federico Chiesa.

Jamie Vardy capitalised on some swift thinking by Jesse Lingard to fire the hosts ahead in the 26th minute, and it seemed one goal would be enough for Gareth Southgate's side.

After a foul on Raheem Sterling, Lingard spotted the opportunity to take a quick free-kick, putting the ball down and re-starting play in a hurry to tee up his compatriot's seventh international goal.

Five changes for Scotland to take on Italy

The Dark Blues' faint title hopes were extinguished with defeat to Ireland last week but they will be keen to propel themselves up the table with victory against the tournament's whipping boys after wins against France and England.

Wing Tommy Seymour returns from injury to replace Blair Kinghorn in Rome on Saturday, while centre Nick Grigg makes his first championship start as he takes the place of Pete Horne, whose blunder put Ireland on their way to victory in Dublin.

Care to make England history

Youngs has been ruled out for the remainder of the championship after suffering a knee injury in the opening-weekend win in Rome.

The Leicester Tigers star was taken off early in Sunday's encounter, his evident pain souring what proved to be a commanding 46-15 win for England.

Richard Wigglesworth was subsequently added to the squad and is named among the replacements as Care prepares to overtake Matt Dawson with his 78th England appearance.

Te'o, meanwhile, drops to the bench, with Bath man Joseph preferred at outside centre.

Red-hot England run rings around Italy

Owen Farrell, George Ford and Jack Nowell added one apiece and Farrell kicked four conversions and a penalty.

The score was harsh on Italy who resisted bravely until a flurry of England tries in the closing minutes.

The winners of the last two wooden spoons were refreshingly positive and replied with two tries of their own from Tommaso Benvenuti and Mattia Bellini with Tommaso Allan kicking a conversion and penalty.

England, who have won all 24 games against Italy, lost halfback Ben Youngs in the first half when he suffered a knee injury.

Italy drive-by attacker targets immigrants

At least six people were wounded in the central town of Macerata.

The suspect, named locally as Luca Traini, 28, had an Italian flag wrapped around his neck when he was detained.

He had taken part in regional elections for the anti-immigration Northern League last year and reportedly made a fascist salute when he was captured.

Italy votes in national elections on 4 March, with immigration one of the key issues.

Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma tie the knot in Italy

"Today we have promised each other to be bound in love forever. We are truly blessed to share the news with you," the couple said in a statement.

The Hindu ceremony was attended by close family and a few friends.

The couple said they wanted "their wedding to be a very private affair".

The two stars were said to have married at a resort in Tuscany.

They will host a reception in Delhi for relatives on 21 December, followed by a celebration in Mumbai on 26 December to be attended by Bollywood stars and cricketers, they said.