Latest Silvio Berlusconi News

ROME (Reuters) - One of the young women who attended Silvio Berlusconi's "bunga bunga" parties told a court on Friday that she dressed up as a burlesque version of U.S. President Barack Obama to entertain the former Italian prime minister. In testimony during a trial against the 75-year-old Berlusconi on charges of paying …

ROME (Reuters) - In Greece, conservative leader Antonio Samaras insisted on calling an election earlier this month that slashed his own party's share of the vote and set the country down a path that could see it crashing out of the euro. In Italy, politicians led by scandal-plagued premier Silvio Berlusconi were forced …

Comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo is the man of the moment in Italy after his Internet-based movement made big gains in local polls last weekend with a blend of populism and eco-friendly initiatives.

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's political parties had hoped Beppe Grillo would fade away, but the comic who rails against their corruption and ineptitude and says Italy should default on its debt and quit the euro is going from strength to strength. In local elections on Monday, Grillo's Five-Star Movement shook Italian politics …

ROME (Reuters) - Italians delivered a stunning blow to traditional parties on Monday when they elected protest candidates to govern several key cities, signalling a major shift in the political landscape ahead of a general election next year. In the most sensational result in two rounds of local polls, comedian Beppe Grillo's …

Local run-off elections in Italy delivered a surprise victory Monday in northern Parma for the candidate of the upstart populist Five Star Movement.

ROME (Reuters) - Italy is likely to register a strong protest vote against belt-tightening on Monday in local elections that will provide a fresh snapshot of Europe's changing political landscape a year ahead of a national ballot. Taking place against the backdrop of a tense and sombre national mood, the second round of …

Peter Mandelson and Tessa Jowell will give evidence to the Leveson inquiry today, at the start of a packed week at the royal courts of justice.

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's highest appeals court on Friday upheld a decision that cleared former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in a fraud and embezzlement case related to his private broadcaster Mediaset. Milan magistrates who wanted Berlusconi to be indicted lodged an appeal after a judge ruled last October that there …

BERLIN (Reuters) - France's new president, Francois Hollande, looked understandably nervous on Tuesday at his first meeting with Angela Merkel, as the world looked for signs that Europe's new power duo can overcome political differences to resolve the euro crisis. The German chancellor tactfully guided her guest through …

ROME (Reuters) - Her family name means "little severe one", and Paola Severino means to live up to it in her crusade against judicial inefficiency which is helping to stifle Italy's chronically weak economy. Seemingly endless legal delays such as in settling commercial disputes are estimated to cost up to one percentage …

VIENNA (Reuters) - Spat at in public by a fellow Libyan who called him a thief, watching his back on long walks through Vienna, eating poorly; Muammar Gaddafi's fugitive oil supremo was a troubled man in the months before he was found drowned in the Danube two weeks ago. Just whom, or what, Shokri Ghanem feared may hold …

Vladimir Putin celebrated his inauguration as president of Russia by suiting up for a charity ice hockey game, re-affirming his popularity among Russian sports fans.

ROME (Reuters) - Left-wing and protest parties made strong gains in local elections on Monday and the centre-right party of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi saw heavy losses as Italian voters joined other Europeans in venting anger over austerity policies. The results, following the victory of French Socialist Francois …

MILAN (Reuters) - Young women simulated oral sex with a Greek statue at a party hosted by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, a witness said on Monday at a trial where he is accused of paying for sex with an underage prostitute. Chiara Danese, a 20-year-old beauty contest winner, had tears in her eyes as she …

GENOA, Italy (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen on a motorbike shot the chief executive of an Italian nuclear engineering company in the leg on Monday, police said, in an incident reminiscent of politically motivated violence that raged in the country in the 1970s and 1980s. Roberto Adinolfi, chief executive of Ansaldo Nucleare …

ROME (Reuters) - Italy should respond to Francois Hollande's victory in France's presidential election by easing austerity, raising deficit goals and delaying approval of new EU rules on public finances, the economic spokesman for a major ruling party said on Monday. Stefano Fassina, economic spokesman for the centre-left …

MILAN (Reuters) - Umberto Bossi, who quit last month as leader of Italy's corruption-hit Northern League, announced this week he could run for the leadership again, delighting his fans but worrying party members seeking a break with the past. The anti-immigration party, a powerful junior ally in Silvio Berlusconi's former …

ROME (Reuters) - Italians' suspicion of their politicians is rarely far from the surface, and a spate of scandals has further hurt the credibility of the main parties just before their first voter test since the downfall of Silvio Berlusconi. Local elections on Sunday and Monday look set to confirm a growing pattern of …

COMO, Italy (Reuters) - Tarnished by a widening corruption scandal, Italy's Northern League is fighting to contain damage at local elections next week, but even its usually feisty founder Umberto Bossi is not holding out much hope. "With all the problems we've had, these polls will be difficult for us," a subdued and tired-looking …

PARIS (Reuters) - When Nicolas Sarkozy won the French presidency in 2007, the roaring Noughties were still in full swing and his message of "work more to earn more" was in sync with the times. Five years later, sobriety, solidarity and a desire for fairness define the zeitgeist and Sarkozy's Socialist challenger Francois …

(Reuters) - Pep Guardiola is expected to take a sabbatical after quitting Barcelona but there are plenty of clubs who would be eager to entice him back to football. Here are the favourites for his signature. INTER MILAN Inter President Massimo Moratti has long admired and sought Guardiola as his coach after the 2010 European …

ROME (Reuters) - Italian business confidence fell unexpectedly to its lowest level in two and a half years on Thursday as austerity measures at home and in the euro zone weighed on consumer spending. After rising slightly in March, business morale for April in the euro zone's third-biggest economy fell to a seasonally adjusted …