Italy’s top court begins Berlusconi case hearing

Italy’s supreme court heard on Tuesday Silvio Berlusconi’s last appeal against a jail sentence and ban from public office for tax fraud in a case which could threaten the survival of the shaky coalition government. If five top judges hand down the first definitive conviction to the four-times prime minister in dozens of court cases against him, it will mark the end of two decades in which he has dominated politics through his media power and political skill.