BOLOGNA, Italy, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- European Union President Romano Prodi escaped injury Saturday when a Christmas package exploded as he was opening it in Bologna, Italy.

Spokesman Marco Vignudelli told the BBC the package containing a book rigged with an explosive was delivered to where Prodi was vacationing for the holidays in northern Italy.

Prodi was not hurt and the bomb caused minimal damage, Vignudelli said.

This incident marked Prodi's third brush with explosives in five days.

Two small bombs exploded in trash cans near Prodi's Brussels home on Dec. 22, the BBC said. There were no injuries in those instances, either.

A previously unknown anarchist group, calling itself the Informal Anarchic Federation, took credit for that attack.

No one has claimed credit for the newest attack and Italian authorities were investigating.

Iraqi insurgents attack in Karbala

BAGHDAD, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- At least nine Iraqi policemen and four soldiers were killed Saturday in a series of powerful explosions in the southern Iraqi city of Karbala.

The Arab al-Jazeera satellite channel reported that one explosion took place near the base of the U.S.-led coalition forces in Karbala, which is run by the Polish forces in the city. The New York Times Web site reported dozens more soldiers and civilians were wounded in the Shiite holy city.

The four soldiers who were killed were in what was called a coalition battlefield base camp in Karbala while those wounded were near a military facility.

Poland's military, which is responsible for the area's security, confirmed at least four Bulgarian soldiers were among the dead.

Witnesses said rockets and explosives hit a government building, a police station and two bases used by coalition forces on a university campus.

Michael Jackson: Sleeping with kids OK

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Michael Jackson tells CBS' Ed Bradley he has not changed his views on sleeping with children in an interview to be broadcast Sunday on "60 Minutes."

"Of course. Why not?," Jackson said when asked about the controversial practice.

"If you're going to be a pedophile, if you're going to be Jack the Ripper, if you're going to be a murderer, it's not a good idea," he said during his first interview since his arrest on child molestation charges. "That I am not."

Jackson continued to vehemently deny the charges against him, telling Bradley, "Before I would hurt a child, I would slit my wrists."

He also told Bradley he would no longer live at his Neverland Ranch after the highly publicized police search of the premises.

"I won't live there ever again," he said. "It's a house now. It's not a home anymore. I'll only visit."

The interview took place Christmas night.

Yankees owner collapses

SARASOTA, Fla., Dec. 27 (UPI) -- New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was hospitalized in stable condition after collapsing during a memorial service Saturday in Sarasota, Fla.

Steinbrenner, 73, fainted during the memorial service for Cleveland Browns Hall of Famer Otto Graham, who died in mid December, the Herald-Tribune reported.

An ambulance was called to Church of the Palms and paramedics administered an IV and performed an EKG test en route to the hospital, Assistant Fire Chief Paul Dezzi told the newspaper.

Steinbrenner was alert and talkative at the hospital, inquiring about the paramedics who took care of him, Dezzi said.

Dezzi did not have a diagnosis, but he said heat and emotion are typically two contributing causes of collapses during funerals and memorial services.

Sarasota Memorial Hospital confirmed Steinbrenner was a patient, but would release no further details.