ROME (AP) - Critics joke that Italy has a divine contingency plan when it comes to coping with any Year 2000 computer bugs: Hope for a miracle. Italy, millennium ground zero for the world's 1 billion Catholics, is among the worst prepared countries in the West for Y2K, experts at home and abroad warn. "They have a very good connection ... Maybe that's the reason why in Rome they're not worried," said Paolo Tedone, head of a university-based Y2K advisory group, nodding toward the Vatican dome across the Tiber River from government offices. The government insists the country has caught up after an admittedly late start. But experts say no one can start late fixing Y2K problems in software and electronic devices and expect the fixes to be in place on time.

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