1.   The Italian foreign ministry and diplomatic service remained among the most overstaffed and inefficient in Europe.

2.   A Venetian judge has corroborated the report, claiming that the Italian foreign ministry refused to aid investigations into the incident.

3.   A spokesman for the Italian foreign ministry declined to comment on the gold controversy.

4.   It calls for a step-by-step removal of the ban on British beef exports, Piero Fassino, under-secretary of the Italian foreign ministry said.

5.   Pressure was building Wednesday for a top Italian interior ministry official to resign following accusations he sandbagged probes when he was an anti-Mafia prosecutor in Sicily.

6.   A charter flight arranged by the Italian foreign ministry and filled with Italians fleeing violence in Indonesia departed Sunday night from Jakarta, RAI state TV reported.

7.   An Italian foreign ministry delegation left on Tuesday for Iraq to explore the possibility of setting up an interest section in Baghdad.

8.   An agreement on the fate of a contested northern Bosnian town is imminent, and an arbitrator will announce it Friday, Italian foreign ministry offficials said.

9.   An Italian foreign ministry official said it took about a month before Belgrade agreed to the request for Rugova to go abroad.

10.   An Italian foreign ministry official, Vincenzo Pedrone, said the clinic was in a particularly dangerous area.