On Tuesday, the 75-year-old leader best known for verbal gaffes, “bunga bunga” sex parties, and a steady stream of legal troubles, lost a key parliamentary vote. After several hours of reflection and meeting with his children and close advisors, Berlusconi told Italian President Giorgio Napolitano he would relinquish his power after the latest Italian emergency austerity package is approved by parliament.

More than anything, Italy is in dire need of fiscal austerity: the country’s public debt has reached $2.6 trillion, the equivalent to 120 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

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Knox collapsed in tears after the verdict was read out Monday. Her co-defendant, Raffaele Sollecito, also was cleared of killing 21-year-old Meredith Kercher in 2007.

The Kercher family looked on grimly as the verdict was read out by the judge after 11 hours of deliberations by the eight-member jury. Outside the courthouse, some of the hundreds of observers shouted "Shame, shame!"

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Much of the anger and bafflement expressed by Knox’s supporters throughout this four-year carnival has been directed at the Italian court: its fervid passion for vacations and postponements; its clownish atmosphere, in which lawyers and defendants shout over each other and wring their hands as in a Pietro Germi comedy; and the fact that jurors are not sequestered, so that the court of public opinion often appears to be the highest court in the land.

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The ratings firm cut Italy's long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings to "A/A-1" from "A+/A-1+." The rating is still five steps above junk status.

The ratings agency has a negative outlook on Italy's ratings and listed Italy's political issues and heavy debt load as the main factors contributing to the downgrade. It anticipates that political differences will likely limit Italy's ability to respond decisively to its debt crisis.

"What we view as the Italian government's tentative policy response to recent market pressures suggests continuing future political uncertainty about the means of addressing Italy's economic challenges," S&P managing director David T. Beers wrote in a research note outlining the credit rating downgrade.

Last week, Italy's Parliament gave final approval to Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government's austerity measures, a combination of higher taxes, pension reform and spending cuts. The planned cuts and taxes sparked street protests in Rome similar to those in other European countries trying to come to grips with the economic crisis.

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Italian officials confirmed last week that they held talks with China's $340 billion sovereign wealth fund about buying Italian government bonds.

Little was written outside the financial press about this development. In Italy, where national debt now exceeds 120 percent of GDP, news that senior officials had set up a hotline to the cash-rich East was greeted as a sign of hope as the bond markets threaten to shut down the Italian government's access to capital.

Italy, the eighth largest economy, is a founding member of the U.S.-led Group of Seven (G-7) club of industrial economies that until recently called the shots in the global economy. Not long ago, the idea that a global export and financial powerhouse like Italy would turn for assistance to China, the chief proponent of authoritarian state capitalism, would have raised alarm bells in the United States. America would have scrambled to engineer a rescue, as it did in Mexico in 1994, South Korea in 1998 and Brazil in 1999 -- and as it had for Europe both financially and militarily, in two world wars.

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The strong lineup also includes Roman Polanski, presenting "Carnage," an adaptation of the Broadway show "God of Carnage" featuring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz; David Cronenberg's take on psychoanalysis in "A Dangerous Method," featuring Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender; and "Shame," a drama by British director Steve McQueen featuring Fassbender and Carey Mulligan.

All 22 movies in competition at the world's oldest festival are world premieres, organizers said Thursday. One of the 22 titles was kept secret and will be announced in coming weeks.

"We have looked for and strengthened a relationship with American cinema each year," said festival director Marco Mueller. However, he stressed that the guidelines for selecting the movies were just "to take beautiful movies, movies that would make one think and dream."

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Maurizio Massari, a spokesman for the Italian Foreign Ministry, said from $438 million to $584 million will be provided in the form of soft loans and to pay for fuel. He says the money will help pay for the "day-to-day needs" of the Libyan rebels' National Transitional Council.

"We hope that as many countries will follow this path because we need to provide the TNC as soon as possible with financial help," Massari told The Associated Press.

The pledge provides a much needed boost to Libya's rebel national council, which has complained for weeks of dwindling funds and has been desperately seeking to secure loans and financial backing from its Western supporters to help shore up its finances.

Massari said that "timing is of the essence," and stressed that the rebels "don't need help in six months because at the end of the day, Libya is a rich country."

"When oil production starts, they won't need this help. They need this help now. We hope that our example will be followed by other countries of the contact group," he said.

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Despite orders from the mayor that the MTV crew could not film these walking ethnic stereotypes drinking, partying or visiting famous sights while in the Italian city, it only took the cast members one weekend before they started getting wasted and hooking up with the locals. And exactly one week after the debauchery, the problems started, with the Situation getting his face beat in by a 'roided-up Ronnie. Technically, those bloody knuckles he got while destroying his costar count as a blow for Ronnie, since the Situation is made of very dense, wet cement and is therefore hard to injure.

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And with this warm weather comes tons of pop culture news stories that are just to the right of funky. We've rounded up some of the stranger stuff that we missed this week, and leave it up to you to decide if maybe being raptured wasn't such a bad idea.

1. People who think the Onion's headlines are real: Oh, it happens. And now it's a Tumblr. (Expect a book deal in the near future.)

2. Abed from "Community" shows up on "Cougar Town":

Easter egg for the super fans and the people who love Subway.

3. OWN picks up new series, "Don't Tell the Bride": Groom and future wife are separated for a month before the wedding; he has to make all the decisions about planning the event. Hope she likes nachos and a boob-shaped cake.

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According to the New York Post:

Permits to film at some of Florence's best-known landmarks, including the Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi Gallery, were revoked, disrupting plans for the latest installment of the popular MTV series, which was previously filmed in New Jersey.

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The crowd in Rome and in capitals around the world erupted in cheers, tears and applause as an enormous photo of a young, smiling John Paul was unveiled over the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica and a choir launched into hymn long associated with the Polish-born pope.

"He restored to Christianity its true face as a religion of hope," Benedict said in his homily, referring to John Paul's decisive role in helping bring down communism. Benedict dotted his remarks with personal recollections of a man he came to "revere" during their near-quarter century working together.

Beatification is the first major milestone on the path to possible sainthood, one of the Catholic Church's highest honors. A second miracle attributed to John Paul's intercession is needed for him to be canonized.

The beatification, the fastest in modern times, is a morale boost for a church scarred by the sex abuse crisis, but it has also triggered a new wave of anger from victims because the scandal occurred under John Paul's 27-year watch.

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In Florence, for example, mayor Matteo Renzi has delivered an ultimatum that is a little reminiscent of last week's "30 Rock" episode, "I Love Connecticut":

-- The cast will not be filmed in bars and clubs that serve alcohol.

-- The cast will not be filmed drinking in public.

-- The show will not be filmed to promote Florence as a drinking town.

-- The show should be filmed in a manner to promote Italy (not Americans visiting Italy) and feature it’s culture and good food.

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Guido (Filippo Timi, who played both Benito Mussolini and his son in Marco Bellocchio's terrific "Vincere") is a grizzled ex-cop in the northern Italian city of Turin, who has devolved for uncertain reasons to a do-nothing job as a security guard at a rich man's estate. Sonia (Russian actress Ksenia Rappoport, who's done several roles in Italian) is a hotel maid from the Balkans, just another Eastern-bloc blonde who has washed up in a Western metropolis. They meet at a gruesome speed-dating event presided over by an amusing mother-hen figure (Lucia Poli), and there's an immediate spark. Within days, they're strolling the city streets together at night and exchanging cautious confidences from their shrouded pasts. But this is the kind of movie where people's secrets will force their way out, and no love affair goes unpunished. When Guido invites Sonia to visit him at work, where nothing ever happens, of course that's the day when a group of armed thugs invade the premises, and the story takes a sharp left turn (followed by another one not long later).

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Pelosi, a former House speaker, had been scheduled to hold talks with Italian officials, including the defense minister, but the ANSA news agency said she was briefly hospitalized Monday at Rome's Policlinico and then released.

ANSA said she suffered a minor ailment but did not give any details.

The U.S. Embassy in Rome declined comment. Pelosi's office in Washington repeatedly refused requests Monday for information.

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The Obama administration said it wouldn't block other nations from building support for the vote. However, there is a growing consensus in the White House that it's too late for a no-fly zone to have an effect in hampering Gadhafi, according to The New York Times, as the dictator's forces prepare to launch an assault on the rebel capital of Benghazi.

President Obama met with his National Security Council on Tuesday to consider a variety of other options to respond to the deteriorating situation.

Among those options are jamming Libyan government radio signals and financing the rebel forces with $32 billion in Libyan government and Qaddafi family funds frozen by the United States. That money could be used either for weapons or relief. The meeting broke without a decision, the official said.

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The 74-year-old faces trial in Milan over charges that he paid for sex with a Moroccan minor and used his influence to try cover it up.

In court documents, the prosecutors have identified 33 women, including the Moroccan, involved in parties at Berlusconi's villa.

The premier told La Repubblica -- a leftist newspaper that has called for his resignation in the wake of the scandal -- that "even though I am a little brat ... 33 girls in two months seems like too much even for a 30 year old."

He vows to participate in all hearings of his trial, which opens April 6.

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But even before the journey begins, the journalist's 10-year-old son has joked that she's decided to fall in love with James, and her behavior around him is oddly imperious and demanding. When a cafe proprietor in some picturesque village makes the obvious assumption -- that she and James are married -- Binoche's character pounces on it: It's been 15 years, my husband works all the time, I never see him, we fight a lot. James returns from making a phone call to persons unknown (perhaps his real wife or girlfriend) and gradually gets dragged into the game. As the pair continue their odyssey through a Tuscan afternoon, sparring like a couple who really have been together 15 years, the movie's real question comes into focus: How does a forgery or copy of a relationship compare with the so-called real thing?

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Niccolo Ghedini told reporters outside a Milan courtroom that the defense has asked the head of Milan's court to schedule hearings for Mondays. Berlusconi is defending himself in the prostitution case as well as in separate trials involving dealings stemming from the billionaire's business empire.

"The premier considers it opportune to show up in person to defend himself," Ghedini said. Italian law leaves it up to the defendant whether they want to show up in court during trial.

"We have asked the court to set aside Mondays" on its calendar for Berlusconi's various trials, the lawyer said. "It's the most you can expect. For a premier, one day a week is no small thing," Ghedini said, insisting Berlusconi was making the "maximum effort" to be available.

Ghedini was awaiting the start of a preliminary hearing for Berlusconi in a case stemming from the sale of film rights by one of the premier's media companies. Because of a technicality, that hearing was put off till March 28.

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Prosecutors say Berlusconi's Mediaset media empire purchased TV rights for U.S. movies through two "offshore" companies and falsely declared the costs to reduce its tax bill.

Berlusconi, who wasn't in court Monday, has denied the allegations.

The trial was suspended last year after parliament passed legislation allowing the premier and other government officials to postpone ongoing trials for six months, renewable for up to a total of 18 months, if the defendant has a "legitimate impediment" stemming from being an elected official.

Italy's Constitutional Court weakened the legislation last month, rejecting the automatic and enduring shield from trial the law provided. The court gave judges the power to verify each time the claim to a "legitimate impediment" is made and decide whether the defendant should be exempt from trial.

On Monday, Berlusconi's lawyers didn't claim a legitimate impediment. The next hearing was set for April 11, when Berlusconi probably will appear, attorney Niccolo Ghedini said, according to LaPresse news agency.

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