Silvio Berlusconi now calls himself world’s most popular leader

September 30th, 2009 Berlusconi calls Obama 'tanned' againROME — Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi is poking fun at President Barack Obama again. Berlusconi has told a rally in Milan that he was bringing greetings from the United States from "What's his name? Some tanned guy.

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 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 7th, 2009 LONDON - The woman once rumoured to be the other woman in Silvio Berlusconi's married life has apparently turned against him. Back in 2003, when the Italian prime minister broadcast a statement on pension reform the announcer who introduced him to the world via television caught his eye.

May 28th, 2009 LONDON - The scandal surrounding Silvio Berlusconi's friendship with an 18-year-old aspiring model has started a new guessing game in Italy over its authenticity. His wife, however, is not happy with the news and has, infact, announced intentions of divorcing him in a newspaper.

May 22nd, 2009 LONDON - Emma Marcegaglia, the head of Italy's industrialists, was not pleased when prime minister Silvio Berlusconi joked that she was like a "showgirl". In his address to the annual meeting of Confindustra, Italy's elite industrialist grouping, Berlusconi jokingly used the word "velina" to refer to Marcegaglia, a term used in Italian television to denote a showgirl, reports The Scotsman.

May 10th, 2009 LONDON - Noemi Letizia, the 18-year-old accused of being at the heart of Silvio Berlusconi's divorce, has claimed that the Italian prime minister will launch her into a career in politics. Letizia, who affectionately calls Berlusconi "Papi", came under media glare after Veronica Lario, the Italian leader's wife, announced their divorce with the words, "I cannot be with a man who spends time with under-age women".

May 10th, 2009 LONDON - The teenage lingerie model who appears to have brought Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to the brink of divorce, says the controversial Italian leader wants her to be an MP. 'Papi [Daddy] Silvio will fix it,' Noemi Letizia was quoted as saying in an interview with the Italian newspaper, La Repubblica.

May 7th, 2009 LONDON - Gaff-prone Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is once again in the news for making suggestive remarks to a female councillor while touring an earthquake-hit region. Lia Giovanzzi Beltrami, 41, has confirmed that the 72-year-old premier made the remark in the Abruzzo region.

May 6th, 2009 LONDON - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said that he is upset because his 'finished or about to finish' marriage is being made public. Berlusconi's estranged wife Veronica Lario, 52, has confirmed that she is ending her 19-year marriage because she's tired of his womanising ways.

May 6th, 2009 NEW YORK - Rumours are abuzz that the 18-year-old girl at the center of the storm surrounding Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is his daughter. As per sources, Noemi Letizia calls the Italian leader 'Papi' or 'Daddy', reports the New York Post.

May 6th, 2009 LONDON - After being slammed by his wife as 'someone who cavorts with minors', Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has come under fire from the Catholic Church. An editorial in Catholic daily Avvenire, the official newspaper of the Italian Catholic Bishops Conference, described his behaviour as 'worrying', reports the Telegraph.

April 21st, 2009 LONDON - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and one of his female ministers, whom he once said he would like to marry, have been painted nude by an artist. Two years ago, in an interview to a TV channel, Berlusconi had told Equality Minister Mara Carfagna that he would marry her like a shot if he wasn't married already.

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.