https://www.scmp.com/rss/190484/feed Silvio Berlusconi has been Italy’s prime minister three times, making him the country’s longest-serving post-war premier. His leadership was undermined by sex scandals, and by the growing Euro zone sovereign debt crisis, and Berlusconi resigned as prime minister in November 2011, but mounted a comeback in late 2012. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Alex Lo Alex Lo Now we know why they didn’t want to release the Epstein files. It’s not just about implicating US President Donald Trump, who was a long-time close friend of the infamous paedophile and sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein. Rather, they basically implicate the ruling and business elites of the Anglo-American world. In the 1980s and 1990s, there was a wave of mass hysteria sweeping across the United States based on fear of satanic cults, child abuse and sacrifices. Well, it turns out maybe it wasn’t... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3342046/epstein-files-reveal-underbelly-western-elites?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3342046/epstein-files-reveal-underbelly-western-elites?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Feb 2026 21:30:37 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo It must have been quite an intellectual or spiritual comedown going from “the end of history” to “the decline of Western civilisation”. For a political writer who first made his name by claiming the final historical triumph of Western liberal democracy and free-market capitalism over all other economic and political systems, the decline of his own society – à la Oswald Spengler, who wrote The Decline of the West – seems to have occupied Francis Fukuyama greatly of late. I write this not in... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3328325/how-fukuyama-goes-end-history-end-west?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3328325/how-fukuyama-goes-end-history-end-west?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Oct 2025 01:30:08 +0000 Flavio Briatore might just be one of the most well-connected and influential characters in the worlds of sports, politics and fashion you’ve never heard of. With an estimated net worth of US$400 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, the 74-year-old Italian dates world-famous supermodels, turned Formula One into a commercial powerhouse, and has counted among his friends the late Italian former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and yes, Donald Trump. View this post on... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3286387/meet-flavio-briatore-italys-donald-trump-and-heidi-klums-baby-daddy-controversial-centimillionaire?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3286387/meet-flavio-briatore-italys-donald-trump-and-heidi-klums-baby-daddy-controversial-centimillionaire?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jan 2025 10:00:07 +0000 Ten months after a planned China visit was scrapped, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is likely to land in Beijing later this month, the result of the two countries “letting diplomacy work” after Rome quit the Belt and Road Initiative, analysts say. Sources with knowledge of the trip said Meloni was likely to visit China on July 29 and 30, with President Sergio Mattarella possibly following with a stopover in November. Enterprise Minister Adolfo Urso is now in Beijing to lay the groundwork... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3269134/italian-pm-meloni-likely-visit-china-month-reward-cautious-diplomacy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3269134/italian-pm-meloni-likely-visit-china-month-reward-cautious-diplomacy?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Jul 2024 07:25:34 +0000 The life of former Italian prime minister and media boss Silvio Berlusconi was filled with business, politics, money – and controversy. And his moves paid off in a big way for his children. His youngest, Luigi, was born in Switzerland in 1988, and was essentially raised in a boardroom. He joined the board of investment bank Mediolanum at the age of 19. He now sits on several other boards, and is worth an estimated US$1 billion. Now married with two kids, Luigi is more national darling than... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3251505/how-luigi-berlusconi-makes-and-spends-his-millions-former-italian-pm-silvio-berlusconis-billionaire?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3251505/how-luigi-berlusconi-makes-and-spends-his-millions-former-italian-pm-silvio-berlusconis-billionaire?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Feb 2024 21:00:22 +0000 Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday she had separated from her television journalist partner Andrea Giambruno, who has drawn criticism in recent weeks for sexist comments made on and off air. “My relationship with Andrea Giambruno, which lasted almost 10 years, ends here”, Meloni wrote on her social media accounts. “Our paths have diverged for some time, and the time has come to acknowledge it”, she added. The couple have a seven-year-old daughter. Giambruno is the presenter of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3238701/italy-pm-meloni-splits-partner-after-his-sexist-tv-comments-our-paths-have-diverged-she-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3238701/italy-pm-meloni-splits-partner-after-his-sexist-tv-comments-our-paths-have-diverged-she-says?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Oct 2023 12:25:14 +0000 Giorgio Napolitano, who died on Friday aged 98, was one of modern Italy’s most important presidents as he steered the country away from the brink of default during Europe’s debt crisis and later out of political paralysis. A career politician who joined the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1945, the mild-mannered, bespectacled Napolitano was picked by parliament to become Italy’s 11th president in 2006 and re-elected for a then-unprecedented second term seven years later. He stepped down in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3235553/giorgio-napolitano-president-who-steered-italy-through-europes-debt-crisis-dies-98?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3235553/giorgio-napolitano-president-who-steered-italy-through-europes-debt-crisis-dies-98?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Sep 2023 19:14:58 +0000 Silvio Berlusconi was honoured on Wednesday with a state funeral in Milan’s Duomo cathedral and a day of national mourning, as his legacy – positive or negative – was being hotly debated among Italians. Tens of thousands of people outside the Duomo and within erupted in applause as a sign of respect as Berlusconi’s flower-draped casket was hoisted out of the hearse and into the cathedral. His children and companion teared up as the casket was placed in front of the altar. Most Italians identify... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3224101/casket-italian-ex-pm-silvio-berlusconi-brought-cathedral-his-funeral?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3224101/casket-italian-ex-pm-silvio-berlusconi-brought-cathedral-his-funeral?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Jun 2023 13:40:14 +0000 Brash, ebullient and a self-made billionaire, four-time prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was a media mogul and political showman whose financial and sexual scandals made him the most polarising figure in modern Italy. He died on Monday aged 86, sources said. He was admitted to a Milan hospital on Friday for what aides said were pre-planned tests related to his leukaemia. His admission came just three weeks after he was discharged following a six-week stay at Milan’s San Raffaele hospital, during... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3223811/italys-ex-pm-silvio-berlusconi-86-dies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3223811/italys-ex-pm-silvio-berlusconi-86-dies?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Jun 2023 09:47:51 +0000 Italian ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has leukaemia, has been admitted to hospital in Milan for routine checks, doctors said on Friday. The 86-year-old billionaire media mogul “is currently hospitalised at the San Raffaele for scheduled checks related to” his blood cancer, his doctors said in a statement. They said the tests had been brought forward, but added that was not due to any “critical situation or alarm”. Berlusconi was rushed to the same hospital in April with a lung... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3223614/italys-berlusconi-hospital-routine-check-related-his-blood-cancer-no-cause-alarm?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3223614/italys-berlusconi-hospital-routine-check-related-his-blood-cancer-no-cause-alarm?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Jun 2023 15:35:23 +0000 Four-times Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been diagnosed with leukaemia, a source close to the matter said on Thursday, a day after he was admitted to intensive care with breathing problems. The 86-year-old, whose media empire has made him a billionaire, is being treated in a cardiac unit of Milan’s San Raffaele hospital. There has been no official comment on his condition, but the source’s diagnosis of leukaemia, a cancer of the blood cells, confirmed a report in the Corriere... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3216232/italys-silvio-berlusconi-hospital-being-treated-leukaemia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3216232/italys-silvio-berlusconi-hospital-being-treated-leukaemia?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Apr 2023 12:36:24 +0000 An Italian court on Wednesday acquitted former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi over allegations of bribing witnesses in an underage prostitution case that has dogged the former prime minister for more than a decade. Berlusconi was accused of paying 24 people, mostly young guests at his so-called ‘bunga bunga’ parties, to provide false testimony in a previous trial where he was charged with paying for sex with a 17-year-old Moroccan nightclub dancer. In a ruling read out in court, the judge said... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3210350/italys-silvio-berlusconi-acquitted-bunga-bunga-bribery-case?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3210350/italys-silvio-berlusconi-acquitted-bunga-bunga-bribery-case?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Feb 2023 15:53:17 +0000 Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition on Monday secured victory in regional elections, cementing her position almost four months after taking office. In the northern region of Lombardy, Italy’s economic powerhouse that includes Milan, Attilio Fontana was easily re-elected president with the coalition’s support. With the vast majority of ballots counted after voting on Sunday and Monday, Fontana was on 55 per cent, his centre-left rival on almost 34 per cent, official... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3210102/italy-pm-giorgia-meloni-triumphs-regional-elections-strengthens-grip-power?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3210102/italy-pm-giorgia-meloni-triumphs-regional-elections-strengthens-grip-power?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Feb 2023 22:41:18 +0000 An Italian court on Thursday acquitted former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi of bribing a witness in a 2013 underage prostitution case, giving a boost to the veteran politician weeks after his return to parliament. Berlusconi, 86, was charged with allegedly paying Italian singer Mariano Apicella €‎157,000 (US$162,000) to lie in a previous trial where he was accused of paying to have sex with a 17-year-old Moroccan nightclub dancer. Berlusconi, leader of the Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party that... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3200032/italy-court-acquits-former-pm-silvio-berlusconi-bribing-witness-underage-prostitution-case?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3200032/italy-court-acquits-former-pm-silvio-berlusconi-bribing-witness-underage-prostitution-case?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Nov 2022 18:42:31 +0000 New far-right Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni used her first visit to European Union headquarters in Brussels on Thursday to declare that Italy will be a force to reckon with in EU affairs, leaving it unclear whether that was a promise or a threat from one of the bloc’s powerful founding members. Her first foreign trip after brokering Italy’s only far-right-led government since World War II was not the ordinary kind of visit by a new leader of a major EU nation seeking to renew unshakeable bonds... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3198364/italys-far-right-leader-giorgia-meloni-visits-eu-we-are-not-martians?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3198364/italys-far-right-leader-giorgia-meloni-visits-eu-we-are-not-martians?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Nov 2022 20:34:46 +0000 Giorgia Meloni, whose political party has neo-fascist roots, was sworn in on Saturday as Italy’s first far-right premier since the end of World War II. Meloni, 45, took the oath of office before the Italian president at the presidential palace, becoming also the first woman to be the nation’s leader. Her Brothers of Italy party was the top vote-getter in last month’s national election. Meloni announced her Cabinet on Friday evening. Her coalition allies include the right-wing League of Matteo... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3196889/italys-far-right-leader-giorgia-meloni-sworn-prime-minister?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3196889/italys-far-right-leader-giorgia-meloni-sworn-prime-minister?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Oct 2022 09:26:41 +0000 Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni was named Italian prime minister Friday, becoming the first woman to head a government in Italy. Her post-fascist Brothers of Italy party – Eurosceptic and anti-immigration – won September 25 legislative polls but needs outside support to form a government. Meloni’s appointment is a historic event for the euro zone’s third largest economy and for Brothers of Italy, which has never been in government. The 45-year-old from Rome will now name her ministers who will... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3196856/far-right-leader-giorgia-meloni-named-italys-first-woman-prime-minister?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3196856/far-right-leader-giorgia-meloni-named-italys-first-woman-prime-minister?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Oct 2022 16:58:54 +0000 Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi said he was back in touch with Russian President Vladimir Putin and had recently exchanged “sweet letters” with him, according to an audio released by an Italian news agency. Berlusconi, 86, often boasted of his friendship with Putin until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and created a storm last month when he said Putin had been pushed into the war and wanted to put “decent people” in charge of Kyiv. “I have got back in touch a bit with Putin, quite... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3196444/italys-berlusconi-says-he-exchanged-sweet-letters-putin?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3196444/italys-berlusconi-says-he-exchanged-sweet-letters-putin?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Oct 2022 03:19:12 +0000 Just in time to celebrate his 86th birthday, former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi is making his return to Italy’s parliament, winning a seat in the Senate nearly a decade after being banned from holding public office over a tax fraud conviction. Berlusconi, who has made personal comebacks a hallmark of Italian politics for three decades, was re-elected to Italy’s upper house with more than 50 per cent of the votes Sunday in the northern city of Monza, where he also owns a soccer team that... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3193951/almost-86-italys-silvio-berlusconi-makes-political-comeback-after?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3193951/almost-86-italys-silvio-berlusconi-makes-political-comeback-after?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Sep 2022 07:38:02 +0000 Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni said on Monday she was ready to govern for “all Italians” after her Eurosceptic populists swept to victory in general elections, putting her on course to guide Italy’s most right-wing government since World War II. According to projections around one in four voters in Sunday’s election backed Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, which has neo-fascist roots. But the party leads a coalition set to win a majority in parliament. Her success represents a seismic change in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3193772/voter-turnout-down-far-right-eyes-historic-victory-italys-general?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3193772/voter-turnout-down-far-right-eyes-historic-victory-italys-general?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Sep 2022 20:00:54 +0000 Italians were on Saturday braced for seismic change, on the eve of an election forecast to hand the country the most right-wing government since World War II. Out with internationally respected Mario Draghi and in – polls say – with Eurosceptic Giorgia Meloni, head of the post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, who is widely tipped to become the country’s first female prime minister. “The country is eager for a change, a new face,” Wolfango Piccoli of the London-based political risk consultancy... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3193702/warriors-grandpa-jokes-italy-readies-vote?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3193702/warriors-grandpa-jokes-italy-readies-vote?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Sep 2022 13:46:38 +0000 Giorgia Meloni has been called a fascist, an extremist and – to an extent – a de facto heir to 20th century dictator Benito Mussolini. She also seems well on her way to becoming Italy’s next prime minister, favoured by many voters weary of the country’s fractious politics and resigned to trying someone new. New, and highly controversial. Italy, which has seen seven governments in 11 years, holds parliamentary elections on Sunday. Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party has been leading pre-election... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3193509/giorgia-meloni-could-become-italys-first-woman-leader-and-its?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3193509/giorgia-meloni-could-become-italys-first-woman-leader-and-its?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Sep 2022 04:15:14 +0000 Italy held its breath on Wednesday as the country’s fractious parties furiously debated whether to support popular Prime Minister Mario Draghi at a crucial confidence vote to end a political crisis that could send Italians to snap elections. Now was not the time for uncertainty within the euro zone’s third largest economy, amid a myriad of domestic and geopolitical challenges, from a struggling economy to Ukraine war, Draghi earlier told the Senate. “We now need staunch support for the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3185979/italys-pm-mario-draghi-sets-conditions-staying-government-awaits?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3185979/italys-pm-mario-draghi-sets-conditions-staying-government-awaits?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Jul 2022 11:26:44 +0000 Italy’s head of state Sergio Mattarella agreed on Saturday to serve a second term, senior politicians said, after parties failed to find a mutually acceptable alternative candidate in a week of often fraught voting in parliament. Mattarella, 80, had ruled out remaining in office, but with the country’s political stability at risk, it was considered unlikely he would resist pressure to stay on. Mattarella’s “willingness to serve a second term … shows his sense of responsibility and his attachment... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3165273/italys-president-sergio-mattarella-set-second-term-after-vote?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3165273/italys-president-sergio-mattarella-set-second-term-after-vote?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Jan 2022 19:01:14 +0000 Billionaire former premier Silvio Berlusconi withdrew from the race for Italy’s presidency on Saturday, two days before voting starts, but repeated his opposition to Prime Minister Mario Draghi taking the job. The 85-year-old media mogul, who is still embroiled in legal proceedings over his infamous “Bunga Bunga” sex parties, insisted he had the support in parliament to win – something analysts doubted. But in a statement issued to the media, he said he was withdrawing in the spirit of “national... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3164401/italy-needs-unity-silvio-berlusconi-pulls-out-italian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3164401/italy-needs-unity-silvio-berlusconi-pulls-out-italian?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Jan 2022 19:50:21 +0000 Italy’s president will begin discussions with political leaders on Wednesday on forming a new government following the resignation of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Conte stepped down on Tuesday after divisions in the ruling coalition left him without a parliamentary majority but is hoping to return at the head of a strengthened government. President Sergio Mattarella, the ultimate arbiter of Italian politics, asked Conte to stay on while he establishes if this is viable – or if someone else... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3119497/italys-president-opens-government-talks-after-pm-giuseppe-conte?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3119497/italys-president-opens-government-talks-after-pm-giuseppe-conte?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Jan 2021 11:42:15 +0000 Italy’s flamboyant former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been hospitalised, his aides said on Friday, days after the media tycoon became the latest high-profile figure to contract the coronavirus. Berlusconi was taken to San Raffaele hospital in Milan on Thursday night “as a precaution” after suffering “certain symptoms”, but there was “no cause for concern”, a statement said. Batman filming paused after Robert Pattinson ‘tests positive for Covid-19’ The AGI news agency said Berlusconi,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3100308/coronavirus-former-italy-pm-berlusconi-hospital-second-wave-fears?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3100308/coronavirus-former-italy-pm-berlusconi-hospital-second-wave-fears?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Sep 2020 12:06:18 +0000 Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has tested positive for coronavirus and is currently in isolation at home, the staff of the 83-year-old media tycoon said on Wednesday. Alberto Zangrillo, Berlusconi’s personal doctor at Milan’s San Raffaele hospital, told AdnKronos news agency the former premier had no symptoms but had decided to test for Covid-19 because of his recent stay in Sardinia. Berlusconi recently returned home from a holiday in Sardinia, which saw a sharp increase in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3100002/italys-former-pm-silvio-berlusconi-tests-positive-coronavirus?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3100002/italys-former-pm-silvio-berlusconi-tests-positive-coronavirus?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Sep 2020 18:07:58 +0000 The decade-long romantic relationship between Italy's octogenarian former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and 34-year-old Francesca Pascale is over, daily Il Giornale said on Wednesday. “There is no romantic relationship [between Berlusconi and Pascale] and they are not a couple,” the Berlusconi family-owned newspaper quoted the former prime minister's staff as saying in a press release. “A friendship and fond relationship carries on between President Silvio Berlusconi and Mrs Francesca... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3065109/italys-berlusconi-splits-34-year-old-girlfriend?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3065109/italys-berlusconi-splits-34-year-old-girlfriend?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Mar 2020 02:51:44 +0000 Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Rome on Saturday for a so-called “Italian Pride” rally that brought together the right-wing League of Matteo Salvini, the far-right Brothers of Italy party led by Giorgia Meloni and former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia. Salvini’s League, which remains Italy’s largest party despite its leader’s failed bid for the premiership, called for the mass demonstration to protest against the government forged by two former arch-enemies, the centre-left... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3033732/silvio-berlusconi-and-matteo-salvini-lead-tens-thousands?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3033732/silvio-berlusconi-and-matteo-salvini-lead-tens-thousands?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Oct 2019 21:13:16 +0000 Italy is investigating the mysterious death of a former model and witness at Silvio Berlusconi’s sex trial, with a newspaper suggesting on Saturday she may have been poisoned with a radioactive substance. Milan prosecutor Francesco Greco said an investigation had been opened following the death on March 1 of Moroccan-born Imane Fadil at one of the city’s hospitals. The 33-year-old had been taken to hospital on January 29 with unexplained stomach pains. Fadil was one of the witnesses who... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3002018/poisoned-radioactive-substance-italy-probes-mystery-death?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3002018/poisoned-radioactive-substance-italy-probes-mystery-death?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Mar 2019 18:40:47 +0000 Polls opened in Italy on Sunday in what is seen as one of the most uncertain elections in years. Observers are watching carefully to see whether Italy will succumb to the populist, Eurosceptic and far-right sentiment that has swept through Europe in recent years. The campaign was marked by the prime-time airing of neo-fascist rhetoric and anti-migrant violence that culminated in the shooting in February of six Africans. The centre-right coalition capitalised on the anti-migrant sentiment and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2135656/glitches-confusion-and-naked-protester-mark-italian-election?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2135656/glitches-confusion-and-naked-protester-mark-italian-election?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Mar 2018 13:46:10 +0000 Europe’s appetite for populist movements will be tested on Sunday as Italians vote in a national election that threatens to plunge the euro zone’s third-largest economy into political chaos. The results of the vote, which are expected to be announced early on Monday, could re-establish Silvio Berlusconi, the conservative former prime minister and billionaire forced out of office in 2011 under a cloud of scandal, as the dominant force in Italian politics. They might also reveal a surge in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2135547/berlusconi-populism-or-neither-who-will-claim-italy-polls?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2135547/berlusconi-populism-or-neither-who-will-claim-italy-polls?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Mar 2018 12:48:49 +0000 Italy on Sunday will vote for the first time under a new electoral law which has made the result difficult to predict and increased the chances of no party winning an overall majority. The election looks like a three-way race between a right-wing coalition led by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the centre-left Democratic Party. The final polls issued before a campaign ban came into force last month put billionaire Berlusconi’s coalition in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2135532/could-complicated-new-law-confuse-italian-election-result?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2135532/could-complicated-new-law-confuse-italian-election-result?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Mar 2018 01:45:21 +0000 Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi called off an appearance on a top television chat show on Wednesday, his second such cancellation this week, raising concerns about his health ahead of national elections. Berlusconi, 81, heads an alliance of centre-right and far-right parties which is leading in the polls in the run up to the March 4 parliamentary vote. He has appeared on numerous television and radio shows since last December to campaign for his Forza Italia party (Go Italy!) but... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2131494/italys-berlusconi-skips-tv-election-show-raising-health-concerns?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2131494/italys-berlusconi-skips-tv-election-show-raising-health-concerns?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Feb 2018 02:28:50 +0000 Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is under investigation as part of an investigation into mafia bombings in 1993, a judicial source said on Tuesday, confirming newspaper reports. A mob boss jailed for the deadly attacks in Rome, Milan and Florence was recorded talking to his cellmate about the four-times premier, prompting a judge in Florence to reopen a shelved probe into Berlusconi’s alleged involvement, the Italian newspapers Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2117939/berlusconi-probed-over-italys-deadly-1993-mafia-bombings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2117939/berlusconi-probed-over-italys-deadly-1993-mafia-bombings?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Nov 2017 07:29:12 +0000 A row over the way older women are portrayed in the media has erupted in Italy, where the ex-wife of Silvio Berlusconi has emerged as a crusader against female objectification. Veronica Lario, who left the former prime minister in 2009 after nearly 20 years of marriage, reacted with fury after the celebrity gossip magazine Chi published a spread of paparazzi photographs of her under various unflattering headlines, claiming she had put on weight and asking "experts" what kind of plastic surgery... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1516321/berlusconis-ex-wife-veronica-lario-row-over-tabloids-portrayal-women?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1516321/berlusconis-ex-wife-veronica-lario-row-over-tabloids-portrayal-women?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 May 2014 13:18:58 +0000 Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi began his community service for tax fraud yesterday. The billionaire tycoon, who was convicted last year and has been expelled from parliament, has been ordered to work four hours once a week for up to a year helping out in a hospice for Alzheimer's patients near Milan. "To prison!" shouted a trade unionist protester in a clown hat as 77-year-old Berlusconi arrived at the clinic with his security detail in a chauffeur-driven car. The three-time former... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1508650/disgraced-former-italian-pm-silvio-berlusconi-begins-community-service?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1508650/disgraced-former-italian-pm-silvio-berlusconi-begins-community-service?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 May 2014 15:17:08 +0000 After months spent manufacturing procedural delays and conjuring political melodrama in the hope of saving himself, Silvio Berlusconi could no longer stave off the inevitable. Yet even as the Italian Senate decided to strip him of his parliamentary seat on Wednesday - a dramatic and humiliating expulsion - other potential troubles awaited him. In the hours before the vote, Italian senators read speeches for or against Berlusconi, 77, the powerful ex-prime minister. He responded with an outdoor... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1367636/italian-senate-expels-defiant-ex-premier-berlusconi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1367636/italian-senate-expels-defiant-ex-premier-berlusconi?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Nov 2013 01:45:00 +0000 Silvio Berlusconi hit out at members of his centre-right party who want to "murder" him politically as an internal split provoked the scandal-tainted ex-premier's ire yesterday. Following late-night talks, Berlusconi's former right-hand man Angelino Alfano announced he would not remain at the side of his one-time mentor and would form a separate parliamentary grouping instead. Berlsuconi responded furiously at a meeting held by his People of Freedom (PDL) party in Rome, saying the move was... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1357920/silvio-berlusconi-furious-lieutenant-forms-breakaway-party?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1357920/silvio-berlusconi-furious-lieutenant-forms-breakaway-party?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Nov 2013 12:15:45 +0000 Silvio Berlusconi's daughter Marina, touted as his possible political successor, was given a boost in a weekend opinion poll showing that the flamboyant ex-premier's supporters think she is prime minister material. Some 65 per cent of voters for Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party think 47-year-old Marina Berlusconi "would be suitable for the office of prime minister", according to the SWG institute poll published in the Corriere della Sera daily. The sentiment was shared by 57 per cent... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1347537/silvio-berlusconis-daughter-marina-may-enter-italian-politics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1347537/silvio-berlusconis-daughter-marina-may-enter-italian-politics?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Nov 2013 12:45:30 +0000 An Italian judge yesterday ordered Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial for bribing a senator to join his party's ranks, in the latest legal setback for the former prime minister. Berlusconi was formally charged along with his former associate, Valter Lavitola, who is accused of acting as an intermediary in the €3 million (HK$32 million) bribe, lawyers said. The senator himself, Sergio De Gregorio, helped investigators and was granted a 20-month sentence under a plea bargain by the hearing in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1338394/silvio-berlusconi-faces-trial-bribing-ex-senator-de-gregorio-switch-sides?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1338394/silvio-berlusconi-faces-trial-bribing-ex-senator-de-gregorio-switch-sides?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Oct 2013 21:08:49 +0000 Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi lived in chaos, with hangers-on taking advantage of him, his girlfriend has revealed. Francesca Pascale, 28, who is 49 years his junior, has divulged fresh details of their life together after appearing with him on the cover of Vanity Fair last month. Pascale, who caught Berlusconi's eye when she founded a fan club called "We Miss You Silvio", said she discovered an "unacceptable" mess when she moved into the 77-year-old's mansion earlier this... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1328775/berlusconi-lived-chaos-says-girlfriend-francesca-pascale?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1328775/berlusconi-lived-chaos-says-girlfriend-francesca-pascale?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Oct 2013 16:00:00 +0000 At first glance, the story of Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's attempt to visit the pope might seem just a bizarre anecdote about a bureaucrat turned none-too-successful political leader. But, on closer examination, it betrays an attitude of mind which seems all too common in the upper echelons of a civil service born to believe in its right to govern yet also seldom capable of leadership. Why else would Tsang imagine that should he, as a Catholic, wish to meet the church's leader, this entirely personal... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1324471/hong-kong-officials-demonstrate-how-not-lead?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1324471/hong-kong-officials-demonstrate-how-not-lead?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Oct 2013 16:00:00 +0000 An Italian Senate committee yesterday recommended that former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi be expelled from parliament after his conviction for tax fraud, paving the way for a final decision this month that could seal his political fate. The recommendation to kick out the man who has dominated Italian politics for the past two decades was taken by a cross-party committee of 23 senators dominated by the political opponents of the centre-right leader. It will have to be ratified later this... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1324765/italian-senate-panel-backs-expulsion-berlusconi-parliament?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1324765/italian-senate-panel-backs-expulsion-berlusconi-parliament?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Oct 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Prosecutors in Italy say two Hongkongers are key figures in a sophisticated money-laundering scheme that spans at least nine countries and has operated for a quarter of a century. The investigation has linked the scheme involving businesswomen Paddy Chan Mei-yiu and Katherine Hsu May-chun - who are standing trial in Italy - to former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Yesterday the pair's defence lawyer, Roberto Pisano, spoke out for the first time against the allegations in an interview... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1324781/italian-prosecutors-say-hong-kong-women-were-key-massive-money?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1324781/italian-prosecutors-say-hong-kong-women-were-key-massive-money?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Oct 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Justice officials have admitted for the first time that they knew a political ally of disgraced Italian ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi was trying to interfere with evidence in a money laundering case. Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung said last night "significant questions" about the city's rule of law had been raised in the wake of a South China Morning Post investigation into allegations by former Italian senator Sergio De Gregorio. Yuen's statement came two weeks after the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1323680/hong-kong-officials-knew-italian-lawmaker-tried-interfere-berlusconi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1323680/hong-kong-officials-knew-italian-lawmaker-tried-interfere-berlusconi?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Oct 2013 11:56:50 +0000 Silvio Berlusconi made a stunning U-turn yesterday and threw his support behind the government of Premier Enrico Letta in a confidence vote. He acknowledged defeat on the Senate floor after defections in his People of Freedom party robbed him of the backing he needed to bring down the government. The three-time premier delivered an unexpected address after Letta made an impassioned plea to keep his five-month-old coalition alive. "Italy needs a government that can produce structural and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1322922/letta-warns-italy-runs-fatal-risk-berlusconi-showdown?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1322922/letta-warns-italy-runs-fatal-risk-berlusconi-showdown?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Oct 2013 11:21:32 +0000 Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta said that he would call for a confidence vote in parliament, most likely tomorrow, to clear up the political uncertainty surrounding his fragile government after the sudden resignation of five ministers belonging to Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right party. In the vote, "everyone will assume their own responsibility, all above board", Letta said on Italian television on Sunday, shortly after meeting President Giorgio Napolitano. The unexpected move on Saturday... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1321205/italian-political-crisis-threatens-split-berlusconi-camp?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1321205/italian-political-crisis-threatens-split-berlusconi-camp?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Sep 2013 01:38:49 +0000 Italy's economy minister played down the risk that financial markets will punish Italy when they open today, after Silvio Berlusconi pulled his ministers out of the cabinet and provoked a crisis that has increased the risk of early elections. The centre-right leader's dramatic move effectively brought down the government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta. "I think the uncertainty connected to the government's instability has been to a large extent already factored in during the last few weeks,"... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1320825/italy-braced-market-backlash-after-silvio-berlusconi-pulls-plug?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1320825/italy-braced-market-backlash-after-silvio-berlusconi-pulls-plug?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000