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Italy's Bersani meets Berlusconi to seek end to impasse

April 9, 2013 07:03
By Steve Scherer ROME (Reuters) - Italian centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani met his centre-right rival Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday to discuss the election for the next president of the Republic, offering hope of a breakthrough in the deadlock left by elections in February. "It was a good meeting but we're at the beginning," Enrico Letta, deputy leader of Bersani's Democratic Party (PD), told reporters in parliament.

Italy's centre left divided over nemesis Berlusconi

April 7, 2013 20:36
By Catherine Hornby ROME (Reuters) - Two months after placing first in a vote but falling short of winning power, Italy's main centre-left party is still divided over whether to swallow its animosity and consider a government with its scandal-plagued nemesis, Silvio Berlusconi. Italy has been in limbo since a February election gave no bloc enough votes to govern alone. The centre left won a majority in the lower house but not in the Senate, and a huge protest vote for the populist 5-Star Movement has split parliament three ways.

Woman in Berlusconi's sex trial denounces 'war'

April 6, 2013 11:32
The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors.Karima el-Mahroug, better known as Ruby, read out a lengthy statement Thursday to a gaggle of reporters in front of Milan's courthouse denying she was a prostitute and insisting that prosecutors hear her side of the story.Berlusconi is accused of having paid for sex with el-Mahroug while she was a teen during the infamous "bunga-bunga" parties at his villa near Milan, and then trying to cover

Italy to try 18 people over anti-Berlusconi riot

April 4, 2013 17:00
An Italian judge on Thursday ruled that 18 people will face trial for rioting in the streets of Rome in December 2010 when a protest against then prime minister Silvio Berlusconi degenerated. Ninety people were injured and dozens arrested in running street battles between protesters and police after Berlusconi survived a no-confidence vote in parliament on December 14. The 18 protesters face charges ranging from arson to violent resistance against a law-enforcement official to holding an unauthorised protest.

'Heart Stealer' wants to be heard at Berlusconi sex trial

April 4, 2013 07:00
The young woman at the centre of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's trial for having sex with an underage prostitute said on Thursday she wanted to be heard in a courtroom just as the case is heading for a verdict within weeks. In a lone protest outside the courts in Milan, Moroccan-born exotic dancer Karima El-Mahroug, known as "Ruby the Heart Stealer", said she had been "manipulated" by prosecutors and the media.

Italy court to decide Berlusconi trial switch on April 18 - sources

March 26, 2013 06:45
ROME (Reuters) - Italy's top court will decide on April 18 whether to transfer two trials involving Silvio Berlusconi to the northern city of Brescia from Milan, where the former Italian prime minister says he cannot get a fair trial, judicial sources said on Tuesday. Berlusconi's appeal against a tax fraud conviction and a separate trial where he is charged with paying for sex with a minor have both been delayed until after the Court of Cassation decides on whether to allow the transfer or not.

Court upholds conviction of Berlusconi ally for mafia ties

March 25, 2013 15:46
PALERMO, Italy (Reuters) - A Palermo appeals court upheld a conviction on Monday against a close political ally and business associate of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi for colluding with the Sicilian mafia, sentencing him to seven years in prison. Judge Raimondo Lo Forti confirmed a 2004 verdict that former Senator Marcello Dell'Utri had acted as a go-between for the mafia and the Milan business elite, including Berlusconi's businesses, until 1992.

Italy court confirms Berlusconi ally guilty in mafia case

March 25, 2013 15:31
An Italian appeals court on Monday upheld the conviction of an ex-senator for mediating between former premier Silvio Berlusconi and the Sicilian Mafia in the 1970s. "I hoped the sentence would go differently, but I accept it," the former senator Marcello Dell'Utri told reporters after the court in Palermo upheld his seven-year prison sentence. Dell'Utri, 71, was accused of playing the middle man between the criminal association and billionaire Berlusconi, who the court said paid out large amounts of protection money in the 1970s to prevent attacks on his family.

Berlusconi sex trial delayed over venue change request

March 25, 2013 13:30
A Milan court on Monday announced it will postpone former premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex trial for almost a month, pending a decision on whether to transfer the case to a city where his defence team feels he will get a fairer trial. The three judges said the case known as "Rubygate", in which Berlusconi is accused of having sex with an underage prostitute, will be delayed until April 22 while Italy's highest court rules on a defence team request to transfer the trial to the nearby city of Brescia. The request is scheduled to be reviewed on April 18.

Italy's Berlusconi says primed for snap vote if no deal clinched

March 23, 2013 16:16
By Steve Scherer ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi, the 76-year-old leader of Italy's centre-right bloc, told thousands of supporters gathered in central Rome he was ready for a snap vote as his rival began talks to try to form a government. "We are all ready for another election campaign and this time we will win big!" the former prime minister shouted from a stage at the start of an hour-long speech. The flag-waving crowd responded with a roar.
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