Rome
The new center-left government of Italy intends to disband the media empire of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, one of the coalition parties said this week. Communist leader Fausto Bertinotti, an ally of incoming Prime Minister Romano Prodi, said Berlusconi owned more television stations in more markets than is allowed under Italian law. Exemptions that Berlusconi himself pushed through while he was in office will be repealed, Bertinotti said. Berlusconi aides called the plan “petty vengeance.” Berlusconi, meanwhile, still refused to concede defeat in the parliamentary elections, despite a Supreme Court ruling to that effect last week. A former cruise-ship singer, Berlusconi performed at a hotel restaurant in Trieste, singing a medley of ballads and then vowing to show up for work at the prime minister’s office.
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