Italians have a last chance to vote on Monday in a two-day parliamentary election that could restore conservative billionaire Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister of a country on the brink of recession. Many Italians doubt, however, that Italy’s 62nd government since World War II will revive the economy.
Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday appealed to Italian voters to give him a huge majority at the general election on Sunday and Monday. He said that ”to really govern” he needed a margin of at least 20 seats in the Senate, the Upper House of the Italian Parliament. That would allow him ”to take, if necessary, difficult and unpopular decisions”.
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/ 25 November 2007
Incoming Labour prime minister Kevin Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat, has pledged closer Australian ties with overseas allies and unity at home after ending 11 years of conservative rule under John Howard. Rudd (50) has promised to pull Australian troops out of Iraq and sign the Kyoto Protocol.
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/ 23 September 2007
Japan’s ruling party on Sunday picked Yasuo Fukuda, who seeks warmer ties with Asian neighbours, to succeed Shinzo Abe as prime minister in an effort to revive the party’s fortunes and fill a political vacuum. Fukuda will be chosen as prime minister on Tuesday by virtue of the ruling camp’s huge majority in Parliament’s Lower House.