VOA: Italy Extends Military Mission in Iraq

[jswordy]

Funding for Italy's 3,000-strong military mission in Iraq was approved by the Senate as expected. The motion requires approval by the lower house before it is implemented. But no surprises are expected there as Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition has a comfortable majority.

Giuliana Sgrena  makes video appealThe vote came just hours after Italian television broadcast pictures of the 56-year-old journalist , who is being held hostage in Iraq, appealing for help.

Relatives and colleagues of the journalist, who works for the leftist newspaper Il Manifesto, were relieved to see she was still alive. But they were also concerned with her anguished message. They said she looked thinner and sounded desperate.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-02-16voa114.cfm