法院判贝卢斯科尼每月支付前妻140万欧元

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Silvio Berlusconi should pay his estranged wife, Veronica Lario, half the amount of money originally ordered by judges, an Italian court has said.

The former prime minister must pay €1.4m (£1.2m) a month, the court in the northern city of Monza ruled, slashing the €3m payments previously stipulated.

The 77-year-old media tycoon, had criticised the panel of what he called "feminist" female judges behind the original settlement and had launched an appeal.

Berlusconi has had little to celebrate since he was sentenced in August to four years in jail for tax fraud, commuted to a year under house arrest or in community service.

Last month he tried and failed to bring down Enrico Letta's government, and on Saturday a Milan court banned him from public office for two years.

Lario can appeal over the new divorce settlement. The former actress, who was married to Berlusconi for more than 22 years and had three children with him, asked for a divorce in 2009, accusing him of having an affair with a 17-year-old girl.

In June Berlusconi was convicted of paying for sex with an underage prostitute during "bunga bunga" parties at his villa near Milan. His new girlfriend Francesca Pascale, 28, said in September that she wanted to marry Berlusconi, who she said had first caught her eye when she was a teenager.