>>>ANSA/Silvio Berlusconi dies at the age of 86

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 12 - Four-times ex premier, centre-right leader and billionaire businessman Silvio Berlusconi died at Milan's San Raffaele hospital on Monday aged 86.
    He had been admitted on Friday for what were said to be scheduled tests related to the chronic leukemia that was disclosed during a previous prolonged spell at the same hospital in April and May.
    Hospital sources said Berlusconi died around 9.30 am local time.
    His death was breaking news on all major international online news outlets and agencies.
    The founder and leader of government coalition party Forza Italia (FI) is to receive a state funeral, which will be celebrated by the Archbishop of Milan, Monsignor Mario Delpini, at Milan's cathedral on Wednesday at 3 pm.
    President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella is among the institutional representatives expected to attend.
    Wednesday has also been declared a day of national mourning in Italy, where Italian and European flags were also to be flown at half-mast on public buildings from Monday.
    Instead his body will not lie in state from Tuesday in his Mediaset television studios in Cologno Monzese for people to pay their respects before the funeral as originally announced due to public order concerns.
    It was not clear whether other arrangements would be made.
    Deputy Premier and FI national coordinator Antonio Tajani said on Monday the party named after Italians' rallying cry for their national soccer team has a duty to go on after the passing of its first and only leader.
    "We have a duty, as Forza Italia, to go ahead, even though we are wounded," said an emotional Tajani, speaking from Washington DC shortly before heading back early to Italy for the funeral of his mentor and friend Wednesday.
    "We will do so still under his moral and spiritual leadership and we will continue to work in the path marked out by him.
    "Destiny has put me here today, in the United States, at Arlington cemetery, a place that sums up Silvio Berlusconi's human and political career, a place that testifies to the value of freedom," added the foreign minister.
    Italy's other deputy premier, Matteo Salvini of the right-wing League, said Berlusconi's death will make Italian politics more difficult.
    "Silvio Berlusconi will be missed," said Salvini, who is also transport and infrastructure minister in Premier Giorgia Meloni's centre-right coalition.
    "It will certainly be more difficult because he managed to get everyone (in the coalition) to agree, to get everyone in synch, to have a thought for everyone.
    "We will humbly try to carry on at least a small part of his enormous work," he said.
    Premier Giorgia Meloni, meanwhile, said the rightwing-centre-right alliance "owe it to Berlusconi not to squabble" now that his moderating influence is no longer there, and recalled his many phone calls, including his last, praising her for the good jobs she is doing as Italy's first woman premier.
    Other politicians of all hues also paid tribute on Monday.
    Defense Minister Guido Crosetto described Berlusconi's death as "the end of an era".
    It is "a great, enormous sorrow. It leaves a huge void because he was a great man," he said.
    Lower House Speaker Lorenzo Fontana also expressed his "deep sorrow", describing Berlusconi as an "absolute protagonist of Italian, European and international economic, industrial and political history".
    His Senate counterpart Ignazio La Russa told Tg1 he had lost "an older brother.
    "I was a personal friend and for me he was a kind of older brother, even if he didn't like it, because he considered me a peer, despite being 16 years older," said La Russa.
    The centre-left Democratic Party Secretary Elly Schlein also expressed her party's "deepest condolences" for the passing of Berlusconi.
    "With the death of Silvio Berlusconi an era ends. Everything has divided us and divides us from his political vision, but the human respect to a person who was a protagonist of our country's history remains. Deepest condolences from the Democratic Party," said Schlein in a statement.
    Ex-premier and former European Commission President Romano Prodi also paid tribute to Berlusconi, recalling him "as a political leader who, during his long, intense time of public commitment, exercised a great influence over the life of our country, having an impact not just on the institutions, but also on the lives of all citizens.
    "I appreciated his support of the European cause, above all because it was confirmed and reiterated in a period in which our common European destiny was harshly and imprudently put in the dock.
    "I give my deepest condolences to his family and all his loved ones," said Prodi. Another ex premier and former European central banker Mario Draghi paid homage to Berlusconi's "extraordinary initiative and innovation".
    "I express the most heartfelt condolences for the death of Silvio Berlusconi, an absolute protagonist of Italian public life in the last fifty years," said Draghi.
    "As an entrepreneur he revolutionized the world of communication and sports, with extraordinary initiative and innovation. As a leader he transformed politics and was loved by millions of Italians for his humanity and charisma. Deepest condolences go to to his family, the employees of his group, and the Forza Italia community," he continued (ANSA).