Media caption The BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome says there could still be "years to go" in the case 
 
 Amanda Knox and ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito have had their acquittals for killing Briton Meredith Kercher in 2007 overturned and face a re-run of their appeal, Italy's top court has ruled. 
 
 The pair spent four years in jail but were freed on appeal in 2011 largely on the grounds DNA evidence was flawed. 
 
 Miss Knox said the news was "painful" but Miss Kercher's sister said she was happy with the decision. 
 
 Italian law cannot compel Miss Knox to return from the US for the review. 
 
 The American student lives in Seattle but, if convicted, Italy could seek her extradition. 
 
 Analysis The decision took longer than expected - two days. The prosecution argued successfully that the appellate court's decision to quash the original convictions had been made by a judge who had "lost his bearings". Sloppy forensic investigations by police are frequently cited in Italian murder trials and some high-profile cases like the murder of the British student are never fully solved. The reasons for the latest decision will not be made public for another three months. The clinching argument for a retrial appears to revolve around another accused, Rudy Guede, who is serving 16 years for the murder. "He didn't have an ectoplasm for an accomplice," the prosecutor argued. And while interest remains high in the Knox case, a new murder overnight in Perugia grabbed public attention. Few details are yet known about the victims of, or the motives for, this latest crime. 
 
 In a statement, Miss Knox said: "It was painful to receive the news that the Italian Supreme Court decided to send my case back for revision when the prosecution's theory of my involvement in Meredith's murder has been repeatedly revealed to be completely unfounded and unfair." 
 
 She added: "No matter what happens, my family and I will face this continuing legal battle as we always have, confident in the truth and with our heads held high in the face of wrongful accusations and unreasonable adversity." 
 
 A lawyer for Mr Sollecito, Giulia Buongiorno, said: "Today is Raffaele's birthday and I hoped it was an occasion to tell him and his family that everything was fine and over. Unfortunately I had to let them know that our legal case is still on and obviously they were very upset." 
 
 Mr Sollecito - who is now studying in Verona - will not have to return to jail while the new appeals process goes ahead. 
 
 Kercher family lawyer Francesco Maresca welcomed the decision to overturn the appeal. 
 
 "This is an important day for the Italian justice system," he said outside the court. 
 
 Miss Kercher's older sister, Stephanie, welcomed the decision as a step forward. 
 
 "Whilst we are not happy about going back to court, and it will not bring her back, we have to make sure we have done all we can for her," she said. 
 
 Miss Knox, now 25, and Mr Sollecito, 29, were originally sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison for killing and sexually assaulting Meredith Kercher. 
 
 Kercher murder: Timeline Image copyright PA 1 November 2007 : Kercher is killed at her apartment in Perugia. Police find her a day later. 
 
 : Kercher is killed at her apartment in Perugia. Police find her a day later. 6 November 2007 : Kercher's US housemate Knox is arrested, along with Sollecito and Congolese national Patrick Diya Lumumba. 
 
 : Kercher's US housemate Knox is arrested, along with Sollecito and Congolese national Patrick Diya Lumumba. 20 November 2007 : Rudy Guede detained in Germany and extradited to Italy. Mr Lumumba released without charge 
 
 : Rudy Guede detained in Germany and extradited to Italy. Mr Lumumba released without charge 28 October 2008: Guede sentenced to 16 years. A judge rules Sollecito and Knox will face a murder trial 
 
 Guede sentenced to 16 years. A judge rules Sollecito and Knox will face a murder trial 4 December 2009: Knox and Sollecito found guilty of murder and sexual violence, and jailed for 26 and 25 years 
 
 Knox and Sollecito found guilty of murder and sexual violence, and jailed for 26 and 25 years 3 October 2011: Knox and Sollecito acquitted 
 
 Knox and Sollecito acquitted 26 March 2013: Re-run of appeals ordered. Acquittals overturned Kercher murder: Timeline Profile: Amanda Knox Profile: Raffaele Sollecito 
 
 Rudy Guede was convicted in a separate trial and sentenced to 16 years. The Ivory Coast national was found guilty of sexually assaulting and stabbing Ms Kercher. He admitted to being at the house on the night of the killing, but denies murder. 
 
 'Illogical' 
 
 Meredith Kercher, 21 and from Coulsdon in south London, was in Italy on a year abroad from Leeds University when she was killed in Perugia in November 2007. 
 
 She was found dead in her bedroom in the cottage she shared with Miss Knox. Her semi-naked body had more than 40 knife wounds, including a deep gash to the throat. 
 
 Prosecutors believed she was killed in a brutal sex game that went wrong. 
 
 Media caption Stephanie Kercher: "It's a step forward for us" 
 
 Miss Knox and Mr Sollecito were acquitted in October 2011 by an appeals court that criticised the prosecution case and noted that the murder weapon had never been found, that DNA tests were faulty and that no murder motive was provided. 
 
 Prosecutors appealed against that ruling and argued at the Court of Cassation on Monday that the acquittals were "contradictory and illogical". 
 
 Addressing the court, prosecutors urged the judges to "make sure the final curtain does not drop on this shocking and dire crime". 
 
 The court examined whether there had been procedural irregularities, rather than looking at the details of the case, and it will announce the reasons for its ruling within 90 days. 
 
 Lawyers for Miss Knox and Mr Sollecito looked grim-faced on Tuesday as they tried to get the details of the ruling from the court. 
 
 Knox lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova said the decision was "shocking" and wanted to know the "motivations" for the ruling. 
 
 "She thought the nightmare was over," he said, adding that it was unlikely the new hearing would be held before early 2014. 
 
 Miss Knox and Mr Sollecito spoke to each other by telephone after the ruling was announced, according to a friend of Mr Sollecito quoted by the Italian news agency Ansa. 
 
 The new hearing will take place in Florence because Perugia has only one court of appeal. ||||| Italy's highest criminal court on Tuesday overturned the acquittal of Amanda Knox in the slaying of her British roommate and ordered a new trial, prolonging a case that has become a cause celebre in the U.S. 
 
 The Court of Cassation ruled that an appeals court in Florence must re-hear the case against the American and her Italian-ex-boyfriend for the murder of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher. The exact issues that have to be reconsidered won't be known until the court releases its full ruling. 
 
 Lawyers for Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito looked grim as they huddled with prosecutors and court officials to get details after the ruling was issued. Lawyers for the Kercher family said they had got what they wanted. 
 
 Kercher's body was found in November 2007 in her bedroom of the house she shared with Knox and others in Perugia, an Italian university town where the two women were exchange students. Her throat had been slashed. 
 
 Prosecutors alleged Kercher was the victim of a drug-fueled sex game gone awry. Knox and Sollecito denied wrongdoing and said they weren't even in the apartment that night, though they acknowledged they had smoked marijuana and their memories were clouded. 
 
 An Ivory Coast man, Rudy Guede, was convicted of the slaying in a separate proceeding and is serving a 16-year sentence. Knox and Sollecito were also initially convicted of the murder and given long prison sentences, but were then acquitted on appeal and released. 
 
 The high court's ruling Tuesday overturns the appeals court acquittals. 
 
 Italian law cannot compel Knox to return from the U.S. for the new trial. The appellate court hearing the case could declare her in contempt of court but that carries no additional penalties. 
 
 It is unclear what would happen if she was convicted in a new appeals trial. 
 
 "If the court orders another trial, if she is convicted at that trial and if the conviction is upheld by the highest court, then Italy could seek her extradition," Knox's lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova said Monday. 
 
 It would then be up to the United States to decide if it honors the request. U.S. and Italian authorities could also come to a deal that would keep Knox in the United States. 
 
 Knox, now 25, and Sollecito, who turned 29 on Tuesday, were arrested shortly after Kercher's body was found in a pool of blood. 
 
 The appeals court that acquitted them in 2011 criticized virtually the entire case mounted by prosecutors. The appellate court noted that the murder weapon was never found, said that DNA tests were faulty and that prosecutors provided no murder motive. 
 
 After nearly four years behind bars in Italy, Knox returned to her hometown of Seattle and Sollecito resumed his computer science studies, following the degree he successfully earned while studying in prison. 
 
 Knox is now a student at the University of Washington, according to her family spokesman, Dave Marriott. 
 
 Italy's judicial system allows for two levels of appeals, and prosecutors can appeal acquittals. 
 
 Although the court on Monday heard gruesome details, including how Kercher choked on her own blood, it wasn't ruling on the guilt or innocence of the defendants. Its sole task was to decide if the appellate trial was properly conducted. 
 
 Details of the ruling weren't issued Tuesday and won't be for several weeks. ||||| International 
 
 Italian Court Orders Retrial For Amanda Knox 
 
 i i itoggle caption Tiziana Fabi /AFP/Getty Images Tiziana Fabi /AFP/Getty Images 
 
 Amanda Knox, the young American whose murder conviction in Italy captured attention around the world, learned Tuesday that Italy's highest court has overturned a lower court's 2011 decision to dismiss that verdict. 
 
 NPR's Sylvia Poggioli tells our Newscast Desk that a retrial has been ordered. So it appears likely the case against Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, who were charged in the 2007 murder of 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher, will be heard again. 
 
 But whether Knox, now 25, would appear at such a trial or ever be forced to return to Italy is uncertain. The Associated Press writes that "Italian law cannot compel Knox to return from the U.S. for the new trial. The appellate court hearing the case could declare her in contempt of court but that carries no additional penalties." 
 
 And, the AP adds: 
 
 " 'If the court orders another trial, if she is convicted at that trial and if the conviction is upheld by the highest court, then Italy could seek her extradition,' Knox's lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova said Monday. It would then be up to the United States to decide if it honors the request. U.S. and Italian authorities could also come to a deal that would keep Knox in the United States." 
 
 Knox issued a statement Tuesday, the BBC writes, saying, "It was painful to receive the news that the Italian Supreme Court decided to send my case back for revision when the prosecution's theory of my involvement in Meredith's murder has been repeatedly revealed to be completely unfounded and unfair. ... No matter what happens, my family and I will face this continuing legal battle as we always have, confident in the truth and with our heads held high in the face of wrongful accusations and unreasonable adversity." 
 
 As Sylvia reports: 
 
 "Prosecutors argued that the decision to overturn the convictions of Knox and Sollecito was flawed. They were arrested in 2007 after Kercher's body was found in a pool of blood in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia — where they were exchange students. Kercher's throat had been slashed. "In the first trial, Knox and Sollecito were found guilty and sentenced to 26 and 25 years in jail, respectively. ... In his arguments before Italy's highest court, Prosecutor General Luigi Riello said the appeals court had been too dismissive in casting aside DNA evidence." 
 
 The AP adds that in the original trial, "prosecutors alleged Kercher was the victim of a drug-fueled sex game gone awry. Knox and Sollecito denied wrongdoing and said they weren't even in the apartment that night, though they acknowledged they had smoked marijuana and their memories were clouded. An Ivory Coast man, Rudy Guede, was convicted of the slaying in a separate proceeding and is serving a 16-year sentence." 
 
 Knox has written a memoir, Waiting To Be Heard, that's due to be released April 30. ABC News is already promoting her appearance on the network that evening.
– The Amanda Knox legal drama isn't over yet. Italy's highest criminal court today overturned her 2011 acquittal in the slaying of her British roommate and ordered a new trial, reports the AP. The Court of Cassation ruled that an appeals court in Florence must re-hear the case against the American and her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, for the murder of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher. What this means for Foxy Knoxy: The issues under question: ...are still unknown. The specific issues that have to be reconsidered will be revealed when the court releases its full ruling—within 90 days. The BBC notes that the court didn't review the details of the case, but instead considered whether procedural irregularities occurred. What did the prosecutor say? NPR reports that he argued that the appeals court had been too quick to disregard DNA evidence. Will Knox have to go back to Italy? Nope. Italian law can't force her to do so, though she could be found in contempt of court if she doesn't show up. There are no penalties for being in contempt, however. And if she's convicted? It's unclear what would happen next, though her lawyer yesterday said such a ruling could prompt Italy to seek her extradition. The US would then have to decide whether it will comply. Alternatively, the two countries could work out a deal that would allow Knox to stay in the US. How her lawyers reacted: They looked "grim," noted the AP. How Knox reacted: In a statement, she called the move "painful." She described prosecutors' theory on her role in the murder as "completely unfounded and unfair," and said, "No matter what happens, my family and I will face this continuing legal battle as we always have, confident in the truth and with our heads held high in the face of wrongful accusations and unreasonable adversity."