Europe, Elections | featured news

Italy's parliament failed to elect a president in its first vote on Thursday, with internal party divisions undermining the center-left's official candidate, former trade unionist and ex-Senate speaker Franco Marini.

Italy's new parliament met on Friday for the first time since last month's inconclusive election with no sign of a deal to end the stalemate and yield a government able to address the deep problems in the euro zone's third-largest economy.

If the papal conclave were set up like college basketball's March Madness, Cardinal Angelo Scola would have been the overall No. 1 seed — perhaps until today. He is the archbishop of Milan and has long been seen as a safe pick for the next pope, having won favor among American cardinals and a handful of influential European ones. So what stands in his way? Well, there's that pesky anti-mafia investigation he has to deal with. The Guardian's John Hooper and Lizzie Davies report today that anti-mafia detectives are investigating corruption in the health-care system of Lombardy, the Italian region of which Milan is the capital. And Scola is very much intertwined with the most powerful man behind it all...

Steeped in tradition and pageantry, the ceremonies that will produce a new pope officially began Tuesday morning when 115 Roman Catholic cardinals celebrated Mass in the majestic St. Peter’s Basilica.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party was in the lead Sunday after the first state poll of a general election year, initial results showed, but the race for a ruling coalition rested on a knife-edge.

Italy's caretaker Prime Minister, Mario Monti, promises to cut labour taxes in an interview seen as the launch of his election campaign.

Centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani is favorite among Italians to lead the next government, with outgoing technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti second most popular and Silvio Berlusconi coming a close third, a poll showed on Sunday.

Outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti posted his reform agenda online on Monday, urging Italians to join a debate on their country's future as potentially bitter election campaign gets underway two months before Italy goes to polls.

Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday he would withdraw as a candidate in Italy's coming election if outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti ran as the head of a "moderate" coalition.

Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Saturday he would run again as his country's leader, signaling a return to the limelight for the nation's most flamboyant politician.