(ANSA) - Rome, July 29 - Italian cyclist Franco Pellizotti was reported Thursday to the Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping tribunal after the International Cycling Union found "anomalies" in his blood.

The 32-year-old climber, who topped the mountain classification in last year's Tour de France, could face a two-year ban if found guilty.

Pellizotti was pulled from this year's Giro d'Italia when news of the doping case broke.

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(ANSA) - Rome, July 29 - Italy's 24.9-billion-euro austerity budget was approved Thursday as tensions in the ruling People of Freedom (PdL) party peaked between its co-founders, Premier Silvio Berlusconi and House Speaker Gianfranco Fini.

Approval of the package of spending cuts and wage freezes was seen as a prelude to a showdown between the pair, who have been sniping for weeks.

A meeting of the PdL executive is scheduled for Thursday night when a document of censure against Fini is on the agenda.

Observers say Berlusconi might even ask him to leave the party.

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(ANSA) - Rome, July 29 - After 'blue mozzarella' sparked a major health scare in Italy last month, a new alarm has been stirred by the case of some red ricotta cheese.

The red ricotta was discovered by a 33-year-old housewife from the Sardinian town of Olbia on Tuesday after she had bought the packet the day before at a discount supermarket.

''It was covered in a pinky-red mould-like film,'' the woman, who preferred not to be named and is especially careful about what she eats as she is seven-months pregnant, told ANSA.

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(ANSA) - Rome, July 29 - Confidence in the manufacturing sector in May rose for the tenth month in a row, the Treasury's economic think-tank reported on Thursday.

The Institute for Economic Study and Analysis (ISAE) said its confidence index for the sector rose from 96.3 points in June to 98.3 points, back to a level last seen in June 2008.

The increase was made possible, ISAE explained, thanks to a further decline in inventories and improved prospects for orders and demand in general.

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(ANSA) - Rome, July 29 - Hourly wages for Italian workers with regular labour contracts were 2.5% higher in June than in the same month last year, national statistics agency Istat said Thursday.

Istat added that inflation in June was 1.3%, which suggests employees benefited from a modest increase in their spending power.

The agency said hourly pay was up 0.1% last month compared to May and it increased 2.3% in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2009.

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(ANSA) - Rome, July 28 - Hourly wages for Italian workers with regular labour contracts were 2.5% higher in June than in the same month last year, national statistics agency Istat said Thursday.

Istat added that inflation in June was 1.3%, which suggests employees benefited from a modest increase in their spending power.

The agency said hourly pay was up 0.1% last month compared to May and it increased 2.3% in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2009.

(ANSA) - Rome, July 29 - Italy on Thursday mourned two soldiers killed by a bomb seconds after they had defused another one on a road in Afghanistan Wednesday.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano immediately sent his condolences Wednesday to the families of Mauro Gigli, 42, from Sassari in Sardinia, and Pier Davide De Cillis, 33, from Bisceglie near Bari in Puglia.

Parliamentarians will salute the soldiers, both bomb defusal experts, when the government reports on the incident later Thursday.

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