By Aadi Nair CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Champions Italy edged the United States 7-6 in a nail-biting finale to the mixed doubles round-robin stage at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics on Monday,

MILAN (AP) — After raving about his young players, goaltending and defender Caroline Harvey’s driving speed in a 5-0 win over Switzerland on Monday, U.S. coach John Wroblewski was quickly reminded of the next challenge ahead for his women’s hockey team at the Milan Cortina Games.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has lashed out at “enemies of Italy” for damaging the country’s image, after the Winter Olympic Games’ first full day of competition was marred by acts of railway sabotage and separate clashes between police and protesters.

The first 20 minutes were played in fairly benign conditions, and that was the period when Italy ultimately won the game. The Azzurri were setting the agenda in defence, putting in dominant hits and defending with an intensity that was sorely lacking in Scotland's contact work.

Italy has stopped Scotland’s last-gasp charge to hang on for a precious Six Nations win by 18-15 in a rain-soaked Rome.

Ms. Meloni’s conservative government has focused on law and order since taking office in October 2022. A security decree passed in June 2025 created more than a dozen new crimes, including protest activity in prisons and migrant centers, and made some kinds of demonstrations punishable with up to two years in prison.

Michela Marcato, 54, has been blind since birth. She and her partially sighted partner were touring the site amid a new effort by Italy to make its myriad artistic treasures more accessible to people with blindness or low vision and enhance how all visitors experience and perceive art.