Italy's Berlusconi rules out governing with 5-Star

Silvio Berlusconi, the leader of Italy's Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party, on Friday ruled out forming a coalition government with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement six weeks after a national vote ended in deadlock.

"Out of a sense of responsibility, we had accepted to give the country a government by teaming up with (5-Star) even though it worried us a lot, but the behaviour of 5-Star has definitively convinced us that it would not be desirable or possible," Berlusconi said in a statement.

Berlusconi and his allies, including the far-right League, won the most seats at last month's national election, while the 5-Star emerged as the largest single party.

However, both sides fell short of an absolute majority and efforts to put together a government have made little progress.