Four companies yesterday confirmed the creation of a total of 120 jobs in the retail, technology, and drinks industries.

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has dropped former allies accused of corruption and mafia association as election candidates, in a bid to shed the image of scandal that has dogged sections of his centre-right party.

SILVIO BERLUSCONI’S cutting remark about a female rival’s lack of beauty has stirred a rare public backlash from thousands of Italian women who had largely kept silent about the prime minister’s womanising and sex scandals.