Berlusconi aides deserting him in Italy's crisis

Several of ex-Premier Berlusconi's top aides are defying him in his bid to collapse Italy's coalition government, a rare challenge to his authority.
Carlo Giovanardi, a longtime stalwart, told reporters today on the eve of a showdown in Parliament that more than 40 of Berlusconi's center-right lawmakers will vote to keep Premier Enrico Letta's five-month-old government afloat. That might ensure center-left leader Letta wins any confidence vote pegged to the government's survival.
Angry that center-left senators will vote soon to strip him of his Senate seat because of his tax-fraud conviction,
Berlusconi yanked his ministers from the government last week. But Berlusconi's top aide, Angelino Alfano, urged his party today to back Letta.

Pressure is building on the 77-year-old media mogul to drop his bid to sabotage Letta.