Refugees revive village in Italy's deep south

RIACE, Italy - An Ethiopian pop song blares as a group of African women sit embroidering in an impoverished hilltop town in southern Italy that has opened its arms to asylum seekers as a vital economic resource.

"The people of this village have a huge heart. It's like family," said Asadullah Ahmadzai, who arrived in Riace from Afghanistan four years ago and sells bags and jewelry from his homeland in this settlement of 1,800 people.

Ahmadzai, who has had two children with his wife in Riace, is one of some 200 refugees living in the town who also hail from Balkan countries, Eritrea and Iraq.