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Italian troops have begun patrolling cities as part of a government campaign to combat crime and boost security.

Some 3,000 soldiers will be deployed over the next week in major cities including Milan, Rome and Naples.

They are patrolling alongside police officers and guarding high-profile tourist sites and embassies, as well as immigrant holding centres.

Critics say the move sends a message that Italy is swamped by crime and that its police are not up to the job.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7540585.stm

The right wing can always be counted on for the most repressive governments, who do all the things the Left has proved they do - war, lower corporate taxes, beat on the poor, the homeless and immigrants...the usual Xian feel good stuff....

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The Italian government has lashed out at an influential Catholic magazine which suggested fascism might be resurfacing within the government.

An editorial in the Famiglia Cristiana weekly is critical of government policy towards the Roma community.

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Papal spokesman Federico Lombardi said the article did not express the views of the Italian bishops.

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The Vatican has also distanced itself from the publication with a papal spokesman saying it "does not reflect the views of the Holy See".

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[ 14 August 2008: Message edited by: Fidel ]

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Silvio Berlusconi's government was engaged yesterday in a vigorous damage-limitation exercise after Pope Benedict appeared to lend his moral authority to speculation that Italy was in danger of returning to fascism under the tycoon's hardline rightwing leadership.

In his usual Sunday address, the Catholic pontiff expressed concern at "recent examples of racism" and reminded Catholics that it was their duty to steer others in society away from "racism, intolerance and exclusion [of others]".

On any other day his remarks might have been seen as no more than a restatement of Catholic doctrine. But they came in the midst of a furious dispute over an editorial published by Italy's best-selling Catholic weekly, Famiglia Cristiana.

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