Berlusconi enjoys electoral success despite sleazy allegations

September 29th, 2009 LONDON - Silvio Berlusconi's "sun-tanned" comment about the Obamas has not been well received by the Italians. Italy's prime minister made the race gaffe about the US president by telling a crowd: "I bring you greetings from a very suntanned man...

September 10th, 2009 LONDON - After Silvio Berlusconi's recent comments that "all Italians want to be like me," a columnist has said that the premiere casts an impression of being an "angry, defeated and depressed man who is at odds with everyone". The columnist claimed Berlusconi has based his 15-year political career on image-making through his television and advertising empire, but the image is wearing thin - thanks to the controversies, reports The Times.

September 7th, 2009 LONDON - After describing himself as "Superman", Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said: "Most Italians want to be like me." The controversial 72-year-old premier, who has repeatedly denied allegations of inappropriate relationships with young women, insisted during a television interview: "Most Italians would like to be like me and they support my behaviour. "Italian aren't stupid, as the Left thinks, and they prefer my government.

July 29th, 2009 LONDON - A TV actress, who is known as the 'Queen Bee' and has a tattoo dedicated to "SB" on her ankle, has become the latest star of the 'Silvio Berlusconi saga'. Sabina Began, 35, is said to have introduced Berlusconi, 72, to Giampaolo Tarantini - the man who hired girls, including escorts, for parties at the Premier's official residences, reports The Telegraph.

July 23rd, 2009 LONDON - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has laughed off juicy allegations surrounding his private life by simply saying "I am no saint". The business tycoon's comments follow the release of audiotapes on the net, which purportedly reveal conversations between him and a prostitute, reports The Telegraph.

July 6th, 2009 ROME - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in an interview published Monday, has denied the existence of photographs whose publication could further embarrass him as he prepares to host a Group of Eight summit later this week. Berlusconi was reacting to a report by the London-based Sunday Times that a series of photographs taken at the premier's luxury Sardinian villa would surface ahead of the G8 summit, which begins Tuesday in L'Aquila, Italy.

July 5th, 2009 LONDON - The reputation of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is set to receive a further blow after the release of new photographs showing the Italian Prime Minister grinning while two young women kiss in front of him. After two months of battling the allegations about his private life, the new photographs clicked at his Sardinian estate threaten to defame Berlusconi ahead of G8 summit of leading industrialised nations this week, reports Times Online.

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 29th, 2009 LONDON - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi might be questioned regarding the sleazy allegations swirling around him. The 72-year-old media tycoon-turned-politician, though not under investigation, might be quizzed as part of the inquiry into Giampaolo Tarantini, a local businessman at the centre of a scandal involving women sent to parties hosted by the Prime Minister.

June 21st, 2009 LONDON - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is facing pressure from the Catholic Church and the ruling coalition following a flood of allegations about his involvement with a teenage underwear model and escort girls, a British newspaper reported Sunday. ...The patience of Mr Berlusconi's supporters is being stretched to breaking point - and they have been joined by the Catholic Church in warning that the lurid allegations are gravely, perhaps fatally, damaging to his standing, the Sunday Telegraph said.

June 16th, 2009 LONDON - Men will splash out a whopping 4.2 billion pounds this year pounds on sleazy fun behind their partner's backs, according to a new UK survey. The OnePoll.com site found that men will spend 1.6 billion pounds on strippers, hundreds of millions on adult websites and saucy phone downloads.

June 13th, 2009 LONDON - Antonello Zappadu, the photographer whose controversial photos of topless young women bathing in Silvio Berlusconi's Sardinian villa appeared in a Spanish newspaper, has hinted that there are more pictures to come. In his first interview with a British newspaper, Zappadu has revealed that the unseen pictures show guests at Berlusconi's private paradise of Villa Certosa, and some snaps include a "mock marriage" between the Italian Prime Minister and a woman in her twenties.

May 31st, 2009 NEW YORK - A new book reveals that one of former U.S. President John F.

May 25th, 2009 LONDON - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is likely to address Parliament over his alleged relationship with one 18-year-old Noemi Letizia. Letizia, who affectionately calls Berlusconi "Papi", came under media glare after Veronica Lario, the Italian leader's wife, announced their divorce saying that she could not stay with a man "who frequents minors".

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.