Word: berlusconi
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...President ventured as far as Britain, where Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Queen greeted him warmly; Bush never went near the streets full of protesters, let alone the Continent. Last June, before visiting Normandy for the 60th anniversary of D-day, he dropped in on his ally Silvio Berlusconi in Rome - and the demonstrations were no less virulent. But this week, Bush is meeting the stroppiest of America's allies head on. In Brussels - the heart of the European Union and refusenik central for Washington's aggressive plan to rein in terrorists and bring democracy to the Middle East...
...year-end press conference last month, Silvio Berlusconi was as ebullient as ever. The Italian Prime Minister predicted that after a "year of transition," 2005 would usher in the country's long-awaited economic turnaround. He was so confident, in fact, that you'd never know he'd just survived a year of crisis. Last June, with the economy sagging, voters gave him a bloody nose in European elections - his Forza Italia party collected just 21% of the vote. Soon after, Marco Follini, the wily Christian Democratic leader, threatened to withdraw his party from Berlusconi's coalition. Economy Minister Giulio...
...safe return from Iraq of Italian aid workers Simona Pari and Simona Torretta - held hostage for three weeks in September - was another Berlusconi political coup that bore Letta's fingerprints. The effort was driven by backroom diplomacy, not the showmanship that comes so naturally to Berlusconi. Less than 24 hours before the hostages' liberation, Letta called in top opposition leaders for a confidential meeting. There was good news: the two Simonas were alive; a satellite had picked up the sound of their voices. Letta played the crackling tape to the opposition politicians. They agreed it was better to negotiate with...
...achieved without Letta's help, the Prime Minister was cleared last month of bribery charges dating back two decades. So, with his judicial matters resolved and his coalition stabilized, Berlusconi, with Letta at his side, is planning for the future. He announced a proposal in December to tweak the electoral law in a way likely to benefit his center-right coalition in the May 2006 elections. Even more controversial is his plan to overturn the so-called "equal time" rule that currently bans campaign advertising on television. Berlusconi, of course, owns Italy's three main private TV stations. Not everyone...
CLEARED. SILVIO BERLUSCONI, 68; Italy's Prime Minister; of corruption charges; after more than four years of court proceedings, ending the last of a number of trials involving the billionaire businessman since he entered politics a decade ago; in Milan. The court acquitted Berlusconi of one charge of bribing judges to influence a takeover battle in the 1980s and in another ruled that the statute of limitations...