File photo of Italian centre-right leader Berlusconi at the Senate in Rome

File photo of Italian centre-right leader Berlusconi at the Senate in Rome

Italian centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi attends a Senate session in Rome, in this October 2, 2013 file photo. Coupled with a likely ouster from parliament after a criminal conviction, a mutiny among Berlusconi’s most senior lieutenants that thwarted his attempt to topple the government has left the 77-year-old facing the most serious challenge to his authority in 20 years and is pushing Italy’s most dominant post-war leader into the sunset of his career, friends and colleagues say. To match Insight ITALY-BERLUSCONI/ REUTERS/Tony Gentile/Files (ITALY – Tags: POLITICS)