Silvio Berlusconi's Future; Greece's New Leadership
KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: Welcome to NEWS STREAM, where news and technology meet. I'm Kristie Lu Stout, in Hong Kong. And we begin in Italy. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's political fate could be largely determined by a crucial vote expected in less than two hours. Also ahead, Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei speaks to NEWS STREAM about the donations pouring in to help him pay his massive tax bill. And Earth is set for a close encounter with this asteroid. We'll hear from one of the scientists getting ready to study it as it flies by our planet. We begin in Rome, at the Italian parliament, where it is crunch time for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Let's bring up some live pictures of lawmakers there as they debate a public finance measure. And a vote is expected in the coming hours in what will effectively be seen as a judgment on the prime minister himself and his waning support. For the very latest on the situation, I'm joined live by Matthew Chance in Rome. And Matthew, how vulnerable is the Italian prime minister?</s>MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he could be pretty vulnerable, indeed. The Italian media is full of speculation that between 20 and 40 of his coalition MPs have defected to the opposition. That would be more than enough to bring down the Italian government, but I think it's also important to remember that Silvio Berlusconi is a better and horse trader, and behind the scenes he's been working very hard to try and attract those rebels back into the coalition fold. And so even though the odds at this point may be stacked against him, he's coming out fighting. Within the last few minutes, though, there has been some pretty bad news for Silvio Berlusconi potentially, which is his main coalition partner, Umberto Bossi, of the Northern League, has told journalists that he wants Silvio Berlusconi to step aside. Now, his press office has played down to CNN the significance of those comments, but if it does mean -- if it means that the Northern League withdrawing their support from Silvio Berlusconi, then that's not something that the Italian prime minister is going to be able to recover from -- Kristie.</s>STOUT: Well, a key ally is asking him to step down. And if Mr. Berlusconi does resign, who would replace him?</s>CHANCE: Well, that's a good question. Much will depend on what kind of government Italy will have afterwards, whether it's merely the prime minister who is replaced and somebody from his own party is installed as prime minister. That's a definite possibility. It could be that new elections are called. And, of course, then it would mean it would be up to the people of Italy to decide who they want as their prime minister. Another possibility is that a technical government, a technocratic government is put in power, possibly with Mario Monti, who is a former EU commissioner in charge, to see Italy through these very difficult, very stormy economic times -- Kristie.</s>STOUT: Matthew Chance, live in Rome for us. Thank you. Now, Silvio Berlusconi's current challenges are, in some ways, a fitting climax to what has been a colorful life. The 75-year-old, he calls himself the most persecuted man in history. And indeed, he has weathered more than 50 confidence votes in Italy's parliament since 2008. He is dealing also with a number of legal troubles. Mr. Berlusconi faces at least three different trials on corruption, bribery, and abuse of power charges, and allegedly paying for sex with a 17-year-old girl. Mr. Berlusconi maintains that he is innocent, and he claims to have made more than 2,500 court appearances in more than 100 trials, and spent almost $270 million in legal fees over the past 20 years. But he can afford it. In fact, according to "Forbes" magazine, it says that his fortune is about $6.2 billion, making him 118 on its list of the world's richest people. And the wealth, it comes from a media empire which includes TV networks, magazines, newspapers, and a publishing firm, and one of the world's premier soccer teams, AC Milan. Now, there is no word yet on just who will replace Greece's outgoing prime minister, George Papandreou. But a Greek government spokesman says an announcement will come soon. An emergency cabinet meeting has just ended, and Greece's main parties, they've been discussing the formation of a new unity government. Now, the new prime minister, whoever it is, will have to oversee implementation of the EU debt deal and lead the country to early elections, expected in February. Let's go straight to our Diana Magnay. She is standing by live in Athens. And Diana, any agreement yet over who will be the next prime minister?</s>DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it would seem as though the wheels are in motion, Kristie, after two days of excruciating negotiations between the two main parties, and presumably also those leaders, possible new future interim leaders, whose names are in play here. Discussions over both the program of that new government and of course who will be in it and who will be in it and who is going to lead it. As you say, a cabinet meeting has just concluded in which the Greek prime minister, George Papandreou, said to his cabinet members that they should have their resignations at the ready, and that he did anticipate a positive outcome by the end of the day. This is something that we heard from his spokesman on Sunday already, and it is now Tuesday. And you get a sense from the Greek public, from the Greek newspapers that they are extremely frustrated that, what with all the sort of swan song about a new government announced on Sunday, it has taken still this long to actually hammer out a deal between the parties at this crisis point. And of course it is also what European lenders are looking to find here in Greece, cross-party support for this new government so that it can push through the terms of the bailout deal agreed on October the 26th and then take the country to elections -- Kristie.</s>STOUT: Now, there are a number of contenders, but who at this hour is the leading candidate for the job?</s>MAGNAY: Well, the name that you keep hearing and seeing in the Greek media is Lucas Papademos. Now, he is an adviser to George Papandreou. He's a former vice president of the European Central Bank. He's a former Bank of Greece governor, and actually helped steer Greece into the eurozone all those years ago. And most recently, he's been a professor at Harvard. He flew back to this country late on Monday night to have talks with the prime minister. So his name is out there. Also, rumors in the media that he's been discussing wanting this interim government to be there for a longer period of time than just the 100 days until elections, and that he's been sort of discussing nominations of his own into the new cabinet. His name is the most common one. And then there are another couple in the fray, Nikiforos Diamandou who is the EU ombudsman, and also Panagiotis Roumeliotis, who is Greece's representative at the IMF. Of course, at this stage, we really do have to wait to see who it is -- Kristie.</s>STOUT: Diana Magnay, live in Athens. Thank you very much, indeed. And still to come, donations to a dissident. Now money is pouring in to help Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei pay off his towering tax bill. He tells NEWS STREAM he did not ask for the handouts. Plus, a search into two suspected brothels in Spain. The CNN Freedom Project gains unprecedented access to an anti-trafficking investigation. And tributes pour in for Smokin' Joe Frazier. The boxing legend lost his fight with cancer on Monday.