Italy's Silvio Berlusconi has been fitted with a pacemaker in a US hospital after suffering a heart scare during a rally last month, and should return to Italy this weekend, his party said yesterday.

The 70-year-old former prime minister had the operation at a hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, this week. His party Forza Italia! issued a statement saying subsequent medical checks had "confirmed that the operation was a success".

Neither the hospital nor Mr Berlusconi's aides had confirmed until now that he was having a pacemaker fitted to correct his irregular heartbeat, which doctors said contributed to his collapse on the podium at an opposition rally.

Mr Berlusconi, leader of the centre-right opposition since being narrowly beaten by centre-left leader Romano Prodi in elections in April, had spent three days in hospital in Italy after the incident.

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