Articles
Italy’s Compromise Government Faces Uncertain Future, Plays into Berlusconi’s Hands
It's a solution that came after all other avenues were exhausted. On April 29, more than two months after the Italian elections, the country's parliament is...

How Berlusconi May Upend the Italian Elections
As vote approaches, political uncertainty grows—and with that fears about Italy’s economy and relationship with the European Union

An Italian Job: Why Silvio Berlusconi Won’t Be Going to Jail Anytime Soon
The single most important thing to know about Silvio Berlusconi's Oct 26 conviction on charges of tax fraud is that it's not the first time the former Italian...

The Curse of the Undead: Is Berlusconi Returning to Haunt Italian Politics?
For those hoping to watch another nail driven into Silvio Berlusconi's coffin, the decision last weekend by a Milan court to cut short his corruption trial must...
Berlusconi Says He's Leaving: Is This the End of Italy's Politics of Burlesque?
There's a certain poetry to the fact that it was economics and not politics that spelled the beginning of the end for Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi...

Will a Panicking Economy Bring Down Italy's Berlusconi?
In the topsy turvy world of Italian politics, it's a rare event that can be summarized in anything as short as a paragraph, let alone something as simple as a...

Interview: Berlusconi Confirms Plans to Resign, Lashes out at 'Betrayers'
This post is in partnership with Worldcrunch, a new global-news site that translates stories of note in foreign languages into English. The article below was...

Why Berlusconi Must Go
The countdown to the end of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s political career has begun. Since entering office in 2006, Italy’s debt exploded from the...

Video Exclusive: George Clooney on His 'Astonishing Evening' with Silvio Berlusconi
George Clooney, star of the upcoming film The Ides of March, sat down with our managing editor, Rick Stengel, on Wednesday for TIME's 10 Questions. Though he...

The Brief, Bizarre Start of Berlusconi's Sex Trial
The television vans had lined up early Wednesday morning. Telephone cables had been laid. Permissions had been secured. More than 150 journalists, from as far...

What's Behind Berlusconi's Rare Court Appearance?
There were no reporters allowed when Silvio Berlusconi appeared before judges and prosecutors on Monday. But that didn't much matter, because while the Italian...

Will George Clooney Testify in Silvio Berlusconi's Sex Trial?
The Hollywood actor's new role, if greenlit, will be filmed by many cameras and viewed around the world. And when he says his lines, George Clooney won't have...

Berlusconi Sex Scandal: Ruby Tells Her Story
Karima El Mahroug, the woman at the center of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's latest sex scandal, says that when she was 9 years old, she was raped by...

Berlusconi's Talk-Show Rant: Just Good Politics
The caller didn't behave the way one ordinarily does when dialing into a late-night political talk show. But then, he wasn't an ordinary caller. "I've been...

Why Berlusconi Will Probably Avoid Jail Time
The war between Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his country's judiciary was raised a notch on Wednesday when prosecutors asked for the immediate...
Silvio Berlusconi
An Italian judge ordered Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial April 6 on charges that he paid an underage girl for sex and then abused the powers of...

After the Confidence Vote, What's Next for Berlusconi?
Only two things are clear about the vote of confidence faced by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday. One is that it will be a photo-finish,...

Why Does Italy Put Up with Berlusconi?
Italy is at the mercy of an 18-year-old Moroccan and a dental hygienist. That's Italy, as in one of the founders of the European Union and the world's seventh...

Berlusconi: Is His Latest Scandal the Last Straw?
One sign of the seriousness of the scandal that threatens to topple the Italian government is the fact that for the first few days after it broke on Oct. 27,...

Berlusconi Survives, but Italian Rage Builds
In Italy, it's time to pick up the pieces. Even as shopkeepers in Rome were rolling up their shutters after fierce riots engulfed much of the historic center...


