Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister | featured news

An Italian court on Thursday sentenced former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to a one-year jail term for making public the taped contents of a confidential phone call in a case related to a 2005 banking scandal.

Judges in Milan rejected a request by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Monday to halt his sex trial until after a national election next month, but allowed the key witness to avoid giving testimony in open court.

Centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani is favorite among Italians to lead the next government, with outgoing technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti second most popular and Silvio Berlusconi coming a close third, a poll showed on Sunday.

Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday he would withdraw as a candidate in Italy's coming election if outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti ran as the head of a "moderate" coalition.

Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Saturday he would run again as his country's leader, signaling a return to the limelight for the nation's most flamboyant politician.

Women who attended "bunga bunga parties" with former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi are due take the stand Monday in his trial on charges of having sex with an underage prostitute.

Italian borrowing costs reached breaking point on Wednesday after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's insistence on elections instead of an interim government opened the way to prolonged instability and delays to long-promised economic reforms.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi tried on Tuesday to calm fears that Italy could be swept into a full-scale financial crisis and the opposition pledged to smooth the passage through parliament of tough debt-cutting measures.

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, his popularity plummeting as he faces a string of legal cases, appeared in court for the first time in eight years on Monday.

More on EuropeItaly's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is pushing a law through parliament to force doctors to resume feeding a comatose woman in a right-to-die case that has plunged the country into a constitutional crisis.

Berlusconi says he is in a race against time to save Eluana Englaro, who has been in a coma for 17 years and has not been fed since Friday in line with a high court ruling that she should be allowed to die.