Scandal-hit Berlusconi starts holiday with special stress-buster treatment

October 8th, 2009 LONDON - Despite losing immunity from prosecution, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's confidence refuses to die out. In a major blow for 73-year-old Berlusconi, Italy's top court ruled that a law granting him immunity from prosecution while he is in office violates the constitution.

September 26th, 2009 LONDON - US First Lady Michelle Obama couldn't help but fall victim to the beast of jealously when husband Barack moved in for a smooch with French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh. According to the Daily Express, Michelle looked uncomfortable when the US President went on to greet Bruni-Sarkozy with a peck on the cheek.

September 12th, 2009 LONDON - Responding to the sex scandal engulfing Silvio Berlusconi, Umberto Bossi, the key coalition partner in the Italian PM's government, said he believed Mafia had orchestrated all the dirty activities. "I think everything has been put in place by the Mafia," Bossi, the leader of the Northern League, said as he arrived at an event in Pian del Re in the north of the country.

September 2nd, 2009 LONDON - Relations between the Vatican and Silvio Berlusconi soured further after top church figures rallied to defend Dino Boffo, the Catholic editor, whose personal life was attacked by the Italian PM's family newspaper. Il Giornale yesterday continued with its campaign to expose Boffo as a homosexual with a police record.

August 13th, 2009 LONDON - Three paparazzi photographers were arrested at gunpoint by armed police guarding the Sardinian holiday villa of Silvio Berlusconi. The photographers, all Italian, were caught taking pictures of the sprawling holiday complex.

August 8th, 2009 LONDON - Despite drowning in scandals involving prostitutes and kinky parties, Silvio Berlusconi insists that he has nothing to feel sorry for and "no skeletons in his closet". While responding to apparent criticism from his daughter, Barbara, the 72-year-old premier said he had "no skeletons in his closet and cannot be blackmailed by anybody", reports The Telegraph.

July 27th, 2009 LONDON - The escort girl at the centre of Silvio Berlusconi sex tape scandal has revealed that the Italian Prime Minister had offered her a seat in the European Parliament. Patrizia D'Addario made the revelation in an interview with the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.

July 26th, 2009 LONDON - After weeks of excruciating disclosures about Silvio Berlusconi's private life, the Italian leader is apparently trying to restore his dignity by planning a "sober summer". Berlusconi, whose reputation was tainted when an alleged postcoital conversation of him was captured on tape by escort girl Patrizia D'Addario, wants to put the sex scandal behind him.

July 24th, 2009 LONDON - A tape, which purportedly shows a sexually explicit conversation between Silvio Berlusconi and a prostitute, has been released on the net. In the explicit conversation, Patrizia D'Addario, 42, a high-class escort girl, can be heard lavishing praise on the business tycoon for his 'performance' and he appears to reply that she should have "sex with yourself more often", reports The Telegraph.

July 24th, 2009 LONDON - The editor of a leading Italian newspaper dubbed subversive by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has defended its series of exposures about alleged sex scandals involving the Italian leader, saying it had become a political issue. You can imagine in your country, what would happened if [British Prime Minister] Gordon Brown met some escorts in his house and one of those escorts used a tape recorder and took pictures, Ezio Mauro, Editor of La Repubblica, told The Times in an interview published Friday.

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 24th, 2009 LONDON - Despite allegations of sleaze swirling around Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian premiere tasted success in provincial elections. In the elections, the 72-year-old tycoon's Right People of Freedom party was handed nine more provinces.

June 15th, 2009 ROME - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said that subversives are planning a palace coup of sorts to impose an un-elected leader on the country. Addressing a business lobby group, Berlusconi said: "There is a campaign of scandals against me.

June 4th, 2009 LONDON - Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister at the centre of a media storm since his wife Veronica Lario publicly questioned the nature of his relationship with an 18-year-old aspiring model, has dismissed any talk of resignation. "Giving up has never crossed my mind.

May 30th, 2009 LONDON - Silvio Berlusconi, apparently, has a thing for controversies. Speculations regarding the Italian prime minister's relationship with an 18-year-old aspiring model are still on, and now, a new scandal has popped up.