The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 413

Berslusconi wins big in Italian poll Media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi became prime ministerelect of Italy after his centre-right coalition resoundingly won the general election on Sunday Berlusconi's Forza Italia party won a clear majority in the lower house and a small majority in the senate. Italy's EU partners have expressed concern about a potential conflict between his political and business interests and are wary of his coalition allies, especially the Northern League leader Umberto Bossi, renowned for his xenophobic views. From La Stampa, May 14 The miracle that the leftwing coalition and Francesco Rutelli were hoping for has not happened. Silvio Berlusconi has won What is clear is that Sunday's elections have shown a push for such a strong change that it will be impossible to stem it. Italy wanted to turn the page and it has done just that.

From Corriere della Sera, May 14 The election results may have shown a divided Italy but in the end they indicated a clear need for change. 4 Proof, then, that neither Berlusconi nor Rutelli can call themselves winners. There will be a need for some bipartisan activity. Maybe it will be the moment when the two rival par- Sins of the 900 Tom Green, who has five wives and 29 children, went on trial in Provo, Utah, on four charges of bigamy and one of welfare fraud Although the Mormon church banned polygamy in 1890, it remains surprisingly common in Utah, a Mormon stronghold, which has an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 polygamists. Why has Green been targeted? "Many feel is prompted by a desire to remove the association of bigamy from Utah and present a modern image for the Winter Olympics billed for Salt Lake City in February," noted the Guardian.

Green's sin, his supporters say, was his willingness to talk on television about his domestic arrangements. Green's trial began on Monday, "with a whimper rather than a according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Much of the opening day consisted of jury selection, with Green's lawyer fighting to exclude devout Mormons PRESIDENTE Francesco Rutelli (below, right) David Hine in the London Evening Standard, May 14 Italian voters now seem to have decided in Berlusconi's favour. Europe should do the He has shown strategic vision The case against Berlusconi is in any case complex and on no count has the evidence ever been clear cut. From the Guardian, May 15 Berlusconi's EU partners should plainly express the distaste felt throughout Europe for both his chequered past and the present-day company he keeps.

Now he has his victory, he would do well to listen and try to exercise a little humility. Kursk raising News of the raising of Russia's nuclear powered Kursk submarine, which sank with 118 on board last August, aroused concerns in Rostlyakovo, the town where It is to be examined, reported Russian TV Correspondent: The dock is planned to be covered with a camouflage mesh, so that no one could see, either from the sea, from the shore or even from outer space, what is going on under it Many locals are apprehensive. Rostlyakovan man: Radiation levels will probably go up here. Woman: Those who can leave are lucky. If we have nowhere to go, why should we tolerate all this? Correspondent: People do not believe that all the truth will be told as far as the Kursk is concerned.

From Russian NTV, May 14 (via BBC Monitoring) From the news weeklies PRINCIPALIA Right of way: Silvio Berlusconi (above) and ties will begin to give each other some help. Nobody, including Silvio Berlusconi, wants to govern a shattered country. Ezio Mauro in La Repubblica, May 15 Berlusconi has won a legitimate victory. But it's a victory that we dislike because we don't think that the model of a rightwing government is a positive factor for Italy today. We will report events of Berlusconi's government, however long it lasts, because it is a professional and democratic duty But we treasure something more valuable, an Italy made up of minority parties.

father of 29 All relative: Tom Green and family from America's "first polygamy trial in more than five Authorities cannot simply open the marriage register and point the jury to five separate weddings, reported the New York Times: "A successful prosecution will depend upon that despite the variety of ways Mr Green has been married with and without state licences he is in violation of Utah law. In that sense, a conviction could serve as a warning to other practitioners; conversely, an acquittal might discourage other prosecutors from trying cases." Pity poor Tony FOR A Blair, says Newsween Newsweek Blair's Real Opposition (May 21) in a cover story All His about the Fault: "merciless" British press. "Labour is virtually assured of a second term, but that doesn't mean Blair won't be battered on the way to victory. The Tories may be feeble, but the British press is happy to stand in for them." It quotes Matthew Parris of the Times saying, "If there is a hell, Blair will go there." And a Daily Telegraph foot and mouth headline: "How it took 37 days to ruin the country." No wonder Blair's "top aides grouse" about the press. They have to contend with 20 national newspapers and only one of them the Mirror is "dependably Pity, too, poor SPECTATOR Stephen Glover, who claims in the Spectator (May 19) that the press is 01.10 woe giving Blair EH an easy ride.

2 When he said the same thing last week, Roy Greenslade ridiculed him in the Guardian one of media analysis: don't take Stephen Glover seriously. Poor sap has an unerring ability to get the wrong end of the Glover was also attacked in last week's Guardian by Peregrine Worsthorne, who criticised him for failing to criticise Conrad Black's publications (which include the Spectator and the Telegraph). "If one is going to be attacked by any man, there is no one better than Sir Peregrine," says Glover. "It was almost an honour to be rebuked by him." Suzanne Moore, this week's diarist in the New Statesman (May 21), has also been rebuked by readers and journalists for declaring her AFP "non-voting intention" in her Mail on Sunday column. "The argument that one must vote amounts to the 'You must eat your food because there are children starving in Africa' argument." But, "I must say, you get a better class of hate mail at the Mall vile abuse, yes, but on little floral notelets." Milly Jenkins May 19 The Editor 9.