Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Saturday a row with his main conservative ally would not unravel Italy’s ruling coalition and he pledged to complete an overhaul of the tax system within two years. After winning regional elections last month, the 73-year-old conservative leader had promised reforms to free business from stifling red tape and taxes before his term expires in 2013.
But a row with Gianfranco Fini, ex-leader of the National Alliance that merged with Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PDL) party last year, fueled speculation of a split in the ruling group.
“I have wooed Fini this week,” the billionaire media mogul told reporters, adding that the rift could be healed. “But the government will go ahead even if we cannot get back together. Our [parliamentary] majority will survive, the government will continue, we will overcome this.”
Fini, regarded as a potential successor to Berlusconi, has bridled at the growing influence of the pro-autonomy Northern League party in the ruling center-right coalition.
After winning its first two governorships at last month’s regional elections, the League adopted a more assertive tone, calling for greater influence over the north’s powerful banking foundations and a swift implementation of fiscal federalism. In a tense meeting on Thursday, Fini asked Berlusconi whether he was committed to the PDL or preferred to focus on relations with the League, political sources said.
After a turbulent week, Berlusconi attempted to return the political focus to promised reforms which he says have been stalled by Italy’s worst economic downturn since World War II.
“Within two years we will finalize a single tax code which will allow us to eliminate the thousands of laws which create so much confusion,” said Berlusconi, who faces two court cases for tax fraud and bribery. Several trials against him in the past have failed to obtain a conviction.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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