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WORLD NEWS Friday 18 January 2019

Italy's Berlusconi rebounds again to run for EU parliament

By NICOLE WINFIELD income to needy Italians
Associated Press looking for work and re-
ROME (AP) — Silvio Berlus- forming unpopular pension
coni is back. Again. regulations.
The three-time Italian pre- At a press conference in
mier, who has made a ca- Rome, Deputy Premier
reer out of rebounding from Luigi Di Maio proudly an-
legal woes, personal scan- nounced the government
dal, heart trouble and polit- had "founded a new wel-
ical setbacks, announced fare state in Italy...a revolu-
Thursday he is running for tion in the world of work."
the European Parliament in Media mogul Berlusconi
May elections. stressed in his first campaign
The 82-year-old Berlusconi remarks that he wanted to
said he wanted to "bring see a united center-right
my voice to a Europe that in Europe. It was evidence
should change, a Europe of his continued hope that
that has lost profound think- the League, which was a
ing about the world." junior partner in all his gov-
Berlusconi had been ernments, would eventually
barred from running for abandon the 5-Stars at the
public office for nearly five national level and come
years due to a tax fraud back to the traditional cen-
conviction. Citing his good Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi waves during a visit to Monserrato, near Cagliari, Italy, ter-right fold.
conduct, a court last year Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. "A center-right that is unit-
ruled that he could once Associated Press ed and victorious, with its
again run. values and ideals, is the
Berlusconi's Forza Italia par- digits behind the two par- anti-establishment 5-Stars. details of how it intends to future of Italy, Europe and
ty, which dominated Italian ties in western Europe's first He announced his cam- fulfill two campaign prom- the world," Berlusconi said
politics for a quarter-cen- populist government, the paign on the same day ises made by the coalition in Sardinia, where he keeps
tury, is now polling in single right-wing League and the Italy's government unveiled parties: providing a basic a huge estate.q

Striking Greek school teachers shut down traffic in Athens

Associated Press stay until lawmakers voted teachers' demands, al-
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — on the proposed hiring sys- though the walkout mainly
Striking school teachers tem. affected schools. Classes
and other Greek civil ser- Greece's left-wing govern- were canceled in most
vants shut down central ment has promised to hire public schools in Athens
Athens for hours Thursday 15,000 full-time teachers and many were elsewhere
during a protest of new hir- over the next three years, in Greece.
ing criteria for teachers that starting this fall. Unions say A few dozen protesters
were under consideration the hiring system is unfairly briefly clashed with police
in parliament. weighted against teach- officers blocking their ac-
About 3,000 people took ers who have worked for cess to parliament, but no
part in the protest outside years on short-time con- injuries or arrests were re-
the parliament building, tracts. They also want more ported. Teachers previously
disrupting public transpor- teachers to be hired. held two protest marches in School teachers protest in central Athens, on Thursday, Jan. 17,
tation for about five hours The umbrella civil servants' Athens over the hiring plan. 2019. Hundreds of striking Greek civil servants, mostly school
while police diverted traf- union, Adedy, called a 24- Both resulted in clashes be- teachers, are marching through central Athens to protest the
fic away from Syntagma hour public sector strike tween some demonstrators proposed new hiring criteria for state school teachers.
Square. They planned to for Thursday to back the and riot police.q Associated Press