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Silvio Berlusconi forms new Italian government

ROME: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has put together a new centre-right coalition government which will be sworn into office later on Saturday, a spokesman for the Italian president said. The announcement ends weeks of political turmoil in Italy and gives Berlusconi’s new administration barely a year to try to relaunch the stagnant economy ahead of general elections slated for May 2006. The government includes new communications, health, industry and culture ministers, but the all-powerful economy portfolio remains in the hands of Domenico Siniscalco. Berlusconi has also appointed a new deputy prime minister, Giulio Tremonti, who was ousted as economy minister in a cabinet coup last July, but is political heavyweight and a senior figure in the prime minister’s own “Forza Italia” (Go Italy) party. Gianfranco Fini, head of the conservative National Alliance party (AN), will maintain his dual role of foreign minister and deputy prime minister in the cabinet. reuters

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