Silvio Berlusconi

Turnout has been low as Italians vote in local polls that are the first electoral test for Premier Mario Monti since he was named to save Italy from its debt crisis. Analysts are watching for signs of voter anger over Monti's austerity measures and for the mainstream parties that have supported them since Monti took over from Silvio Berlusconi six months ago. The government said turn out stood at 55 percent, 6 percent lower than the last time such administrative elections were held, on the first day of voting Sunday.

Turnout has been low as Italians vote in local polls that are the first electoral test for Premier Mario Monti since he was named to save Italy from its debt crisis. Analysts are watching for signs of voter anger over Monti's austerity measures and for the mainstream parties that have supported them since Monti took over from Silvio Berlusconi six months ago. The government said turn out stood at 55 percent, 6 percent lower than the last time such administrative elections were held, on the first day of voting Sunday.

ROME -- Italy's negotiation for the release of Taliban militants in exchange for the freedom of an Italian hostage in Afghanistan has placed Prime Minister Romano Prodi in the firing line days before a crucial parliamentary vote on keeping the country's troops in Afghanistan. The move has drawn the ire of the conservative opposition -- whose backing may be necessary in the Senate vote next week -- and the criticism of allies in the United States and Europe. Government officials said the Afghan government freed five Taliban prisoners to win the release of Daniele Mastrogiacomo,...

NEW YORK - Antonio Tabucchi, a distinguished Italian novelist whose work, with its almost palpable sympathy for the oppressed, became a standard held aloft by opponents of the right-wing government of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, died March 25 in Lisbon at 68. The cause was cancer, Bernard Comment, his French translator, told Agence France-Presse. Mr. Tabucchi, who was also a scholar of Portuguese literature, divided his time between Lisbon and Tuscany. Translated into many languages, including English, Mr. Tabucchi's work engendered wide critical praise,...

U.S. government bond prices dipped Tuesday after Italy's prime minister agreed to resign. Silvio Berlusconi said he would step down once Italy's parliament approves a package of austerity measures. Many in the bond market consider Berlusconi an obstacle to economic reforms needed to help Italy escape a debt crisis. Concerns that Europe's debt crisis would spread have pushed up Italy's borrowing rates. Those concerns have also lowered U.S. rates as traders buy investments seen as relatively safe, such as Treasurys.

ROME - Premier Romano Prodi of Italy resigned yesterday after his center-left coalition lost a Senate confidence vote, a humiliating end to a 20-month-old government plagued by infighting. Calling early elections or asking a politician to try to form another government are among President Giorgio Napolitano's options as head of state. Until he decides, Prodi will stay on in a caretaker role. Elected in April 2006, Prodi has had a shaky government from nearly the start. It lurched toward collapse this week after a small Christian Democrat party, whose votes were vital to his Senate...

ROME - Mike Bongiorno, a TV host who popularized quiz shows for generations of Italians and became a symbol of national television, died of a heart attack at his home in Monte Carlo, the ANSA news agency and satellite TV station Sky Italia said. He was 85. Nicknamed “The Quiz King,’’ Mr. Bongiorno was one of Italy’s most enduring and beloved TV personalities. His gaffes were legendary and his greeting to viewers - “Allegria!’’ or “Cheers!’’ - a trademark. He was so popular that Umberto Eco wrote an essay called the...

ROME - Silvio Berlusconi is promising to clean up the trash in Naples, save Alitalia airlines and revive the economy. But some fear the new premier will pander to his conservative political base and an anti-immigrant coalition partner rather than confront Italy's woes. As congratulations came pouring in yesterday, including from President Bush and French leader Nicolas Sarkozy, the charismatic media magnate said he would waste no time in getting to work. He will slim the Cabinet to 12 ministers, half the number in the outgoing center-left government, and...

ROME - Italy's prime minister-designate Mario Monti said yesterday it was premature to say if the country would require more tough measures to rescue its finances and revive its economy, as he sought enough backing from political parties to form a government. Two days after Silvio Berlusconi resigned, and with investors still nervous about Italy's credibility, Monti spent the day consulting with political parties, then told reporters he could not say when he would have a Cabinet lined up. Pressured by the markets, Parliament...

MILAN — Enzo Bearzot, who in 1982 coached Italy to its first World Cup triumph in 44 years, died yesterday in Milan. He was 83 and had been ill for several years. Mr. Bearzot, a beloved coach in Italy, first guided the national team in 1975 and led the squad at the 1978, 1982, and 1986 World Cups. At the 1982 World Cup in Spain, Italy beat West Germany 3-1 in the final after defeating Argentina and Brazil in the second round and Poland in the semifinals. It was Italy’s third World Cup title following success in 1934 and 1938.

THE FAILURE of political systems in democracies to produce fresh candidates is a worrying — and dangerous — trend. Many people around the world look at the US Republican primary race with a sense of disbelief, and wonder: Are these the best candidates the greatest democracy in the world can produce? Of course, the United States is not alone. As the French presidential election enters its last weeks, the level of debate is causing some to cringe, but so is the sense of deja vu: President Nicolas Sarkozy has been in politics for decades, as have all his challengers - Marine Le Pen, leader of the far right...

MILAN (AP) — A Milan court ended a corruption trial against Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday, ruling that the statute of limitations had run out on the case and essentially handing Italy's former premier another victory in a long string of judicial woes he has faced. The billionaire media mogul wasn't in court when the three judges read out their verdict after about two hours of deliberation. Defendants in Italy aren't required to attend their trials. Berlusconi had denied any wrongdoing.

The purpose of Italian Premier Mario Monti's unannounced trip to Brussels on Thursday was to meet the country's ambassador to the European Union, a government official said. Monti, who still has an apartment in the Belgian capital from his time as a European commissioner, made a stopover in Brussels to discuss European issues with the Italian ambassador, said the official, who declined to be named in line with the government's briefing policy. The Italian premier is headed to Paris on Friday to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy, ahead of a visit to German...

ROME - In this nation where tax evasion can be considered part of a solid business plan, even dentists and hairdressers demand payment in cash - payments that then frequently vanish from accounting books like so many Cheshire cats. But as the world's eighth-largest economy struggles to pull back from the brink of a debt crisis that has much of the financial world on edge, Italy may be on the verge of a national reckoning over one its most vexing financial and cultural problems: tax cheats.

ROME - Prime Minister Mario Monti yesterday won broad support in Italy's Parliament for his new government - whose mission will be to spur growth and reduce debt during a Europe-wide economic crisis - calling on lawmakers to work with him in a moment of difficult decisions and sacrifices. The 630-seat lower house voted in favor of Monti's government 556 to 61, after a similarly lopsided vote on Thursday in the Senate. Monti now has full powers to begin drafting his agenda, which includes passing emergency measures to regain the confidence of...

ROME - Mario Monti, Italy's newly chosen prime minister, unveiled an ambitious growth-boosting program before the Senate yesterday, warning that Italy and Europe faced a moment of "serious emergency" and calling on lawmakers for national unity and responsibility. At a time of international financial instability that is threatening the euro currency, and with the eyes of world markets on Italy, Monti, an economist and former European commission member, said his government would work to change Italy's labor market and pension system,...