Berlusconi deja vu: calls Obama ‘tanned’ again, this time says First Lady is ‘tanned’ too

September 26th, 2009 LONDON - Michelle Obama appeared to be keeping her distance from controversy-hit Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at the opening reception for the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. The US First Lady was said to have met the politician with a classic US-European impasse with President Barack Obama in the middle.

September 26th, 2009 Berlusconi, pope meet 1st time since sex scandalROME — Premier Silvio Berlusconi had his first meeting Saturday with Pope Benedict XVI since the Italian leader was implicated in a sex scandal that broke last spring. Vatican spokesman the Rev.

September 12th, 2009 LONDON - US First Lady Michelle Obama loves to hug everyone she meets as it makes others feel relaxed. Obama admits that she gets just as much out of being affectionate as those being hugged.

September 7th, 2009 Berlusconi: Relations with church excellentROME — Silvio Berlusconi says relations between his government and the Catholic Church, which have been strained by a sex scandal involving the Italian premier, remain excellent. Berlusconi said Monday that contacts with the church are kept up "almost daily" by his top aide.

July 31st, 2009 Michelle Obama meets with families at Va Navy baseNORFOLK, Va. — First lady Michelle Obama is calling military families "quiet heroes" and urging the public to support them.

July 28th, 2009 Obama says he, first lady have 'living wills'WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says he and first lady Michelle Obama each have "living wills," but he hopes it will be a long time before either one has to put them to use. Living wills allow very sick or terminally ill people to specify how they want to be cared for before they become incapacitated.

July 6th, 2009 Berlusconi basks in G-8 spotlightROME — Premier Silvio Berlusconi will bask in his role as host of the Group of Eight summit of industrialized nations — a break from the barrage of attacks from a starlet scandal that has engulfed him at home. But that doesn't mean his moment in the spotlight will be free of embarrassment.

July 1st, 2009 ROME - Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano has appealed to the politicians and media to observe a truce to ensure a smooth G8 summit. "It would be good, from here to the G8, given the delicacy of this huge international event, to have a truce in these controversies," The Telegraph quoted Napolitano, as saying.

June 22nd, 2009 In SF, Michelle Obama calls on Americans to serveSAN FRANCISCO — First lady Michelle Obama wants Americans to make this a summer of community service. Obama is scheduled to put the idea into action Monday, joining California first lady Maria Shriver and local volunteers in refurbishing the playground at Bret Harte Elementary School in San Francisco.

June 3rd, 2009 First lady tells graduates not to worryWASHINGTON — First lady Michelle Obama is offering this advice to students doubting if they're ready for the future: "Don't worry." Mrs. Obama told 98 graduates of a Washington, D.C., math and science charter school that before going off to Princeton University she worried about whether she was ready and would fit in.

May 5th, 2009 Berlusconi denies claim he had affair with teenROME — Premier Silvio Berlusconi says the suggestion by his wife and the media that he had a relationship with an 18-year-old girl is a "lie." Berlusconi went on state-run television Tuesday to repeat that his wife Veronica Lario should publicly apologize for embarrassing him and admit that she was wrong. Lario has said she wants a divorce, citing Berlusconi's frequent flirtations with younger women.

May 4th, 2009 Michelle Obama says she enjoys being first ladyWASHINGTON — Michelle Obama says the most surprising thing about her move to the White House is how much fun it is to be first lady. Mrs. Obama spoke to students at the Latin American Montessori Bilingual Charter School on Monday.

May 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - After calling himself the Jesus Christ of Italian politics, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi boasted yesterday that he's the world's most popular leader. The 72-year-old said opinion poll findings in his possession showed his popularity at just over 75 per cent, making him far more popular than the American president, Barack Obama, or any other head of government.

March 27th, 2009 LONDON - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who last year referred to Barack Obama as "sun-tanned", has returned to the same subject after he claimed the difference between their leadership styles was that he is 'paler'. The 72-year-old made the comment to a reporter who compared the two leaders and their handling of the economic crisis.

March 14th, 2009 MOSCOW - Asif Mustafayev, an artist in northwestern Azerbaijan, has become a celebrity in the ex-Soviet Caucasus state for bearing a striking resemblance to US President Barack Obama. The 31-year-old with tanned skin and curly hair is called 'our Obama' by his fellow villagers, who often drop into his place with their guests to show off the local look-alike of the world's No.1 leader, Russian daily Vremya Novostei has reported.