MILAN (Thomson Financial) - The Bank of Italy said its auction of 24-month zero coupon Treasury (CTX) certificates was 70.7 pct oversubscribed, while the yield rose from the previous auction. The price established was of 93.551 for a gross annual yield of 4.063 pct, up from 3.935 pct previously. The bank received 3.414 bln eur worth of bids for 2.000 bln on offer and assigned. The exclusion price was of 91.601. yael.schrage@thomson.com ysc/am COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited...
Football: San Siro shut to fans as new Italian guidelines kick in
June 1, 2007 on 10:21 pm | In Money |
The Italian interior ministry has confirmed that only six stadiums in the country meet security requirements, meaning all league matches in other grounds will be played behind closed doors.
Rome’s Olympic Stadium made the list, but the San Siro in Milan did not. Stadiums in Genoa, Siena, Cagliari, Turin and Palermo were all deemed safe on the list, drawn up after a meeting of security and sports officials today.
“My hope is that in a reasonable amount of time we will able to say we are not only world champions but we have deeply, profoundly changed the system of the football scene in this country,” said the sports minister, Giovanna Melandri. “Many things have happened already, many internal regulations and rules have changed - sports justice, the code for judges and agents, plus we are in the midst of changing regulations for TV rights. Now we are facing the challenge of violence,” she said in an interview.
“At the end of this process, we will be able to say we have also won this match and given our country a more credible, transparent football that has driven violence away.”
Five of this Sunday’s Serie A matches will be played in front of empty grounds, according to today’s findings, with another five open to the public. Officials said, however, that further checks on the stadiums would be carried out in the coming days, while they also banned all night matches in the Serie A and in the lower divisions.
Melandri added that the decision to close stadiums to fans was “drastic and unprecedented in this country”, but added that most venues are likely to reopen shortly. “Many stadiums need weeks not even months of works,” she said. “After the first wave of emotional reactions, we’ll see. I think eradicating violence from stadiums is in everybody’s interest, even for clubs. It’s a temporary solution to cope with a situation that is not normal. But it was not normal and we could not accept any longer that the minimum safety standards could not be guaranteed.”
Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani was quick to criticise the decision, adding that he was not sure about whether the stadium could be used for the March 7 return leg with Celtic in the last 16 of the Champions League. “We have done everything we could do. It’s obvious we want to play at the San Siro with open doors and as far as the Champions League is concerned, yesterday I spoke to [Uefa president Michel] Platini and we are free to play at home, maybe behind closed doors, or away [from home]. We have done everything the law has asked us to do and have no reason to feel bad.
“Geneva and Newcastle have offered to let us play there. I think it’s fundamentally unjust to close a stadium like the San Siro on which we have already spent 20m (13.3m) for works which are neverending.”
Meanwhile, Italian police have confirmed they are questioning a 17-year-old teenager from Catania over the murder of policeman Filippo Raciti in riots outside Catania’s ground before and after their derby with Palermo last Friday.
The policeman died after being struck with a blunt object and having a homemade explosive thrown into his car. Raciti’s death prompted the initial suspension of all matches in the country.
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