Berlusconi’s sex tape scandal now has Putin’s bed in it

October 2nd, 2009 LONDON - The prostitute at the center of Silvio Berlusconi's sex scandal gave out intimate details of their purported encounter on live TV. Patrizia D'Addario appeared on a prime time RAI talk show hosted by Michele Santoro, a one-time center-left European Parliamentarian.

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.

August 13th, 2009 LONDON - The shocking revelations surrounding the private life of Silvio Berlusconi have made Italy's Catholic church feel "uneasy" and "'mortified", the newspaper of the Italian Bishops' Conference has said. Avvenire newspaper said the church had sent clears signals over Berlusconi's alleged womanising, reports The Telegraph.

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 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 25th, 2009 LONDON - The escort girl at the centre of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi sex tape scandal has threatened to sue the country's Foreign Minister. Patrizia D'Addario, a Bari prostitute, is threatening to take Franco Frattini to court for impugning her reputation as opposition MPs unleashed an attack on their PM for trying to compromise nation's security, reports The Times.

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 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 23rd, 2009 LONDON - Silvio Berlusconi has been issued with a writ following his attacks on the newspaper group, which published a series of audiotapes made by a prostitute of her alleged meetings with the Italian Prime Minister at his residence. The business tycoon's personal life came under the limelight when the publishers of La Repubblica announced that it was suing him for attacking it as "subversive", reports The Times.

July 22nd, 2009 LONDON - Patrizia D'Addario, the Bari prostitute who claims to have recorded footage that proves her encounters with Silvio Berlusconi, was apparently paid 1,000 euros to attend one of the Italian PM's parties and promised a gift if she stayed for a night. Berlusconi's private life came under the spotlight when fresh audiotapes of his alleged encounter with D'Addario at his Rome residence were posted on the Internet.

July 22nd, 2009 LONDON - Silvio Berlusconi spurns a condom - at least that's what new tapes of a hooker's alleged dealings with the Italian PM which hit the internet suggest. The Sun reports, in one of the tapes, Patrizia D'Addario, 42, recoils as a business tycoon linked to Berlusconi's parties tells her: "He will give you a present.

July 21st, 2009 LONDON - Silvio Berlusconi's private life is again in the spotlight after audiotapes of the Italian Prime Minister's alleged encounter with an escort girl at his Rome residence were posted on the internet. The Italian daily La Repubblica and its sister weekly, L'Espresso, published bits and bobs of the alleged bedroom conversation between Berlusconi and Patrizia D'Addario, the woman whom his aides describe as a prostitute, reports The Times.

June 20th, 2009 LONDON - Silvio Berlusconi is so badly stuck in the labyrinth of controversies that he has become "blackmailable", says a leading Italian daily newspaper. "The spectre of blackmail hangs over Berlusconi," said La Stampa.

May 23rd, 2009 LONDON - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's reputation received another blow when pictures of him and Noemi Letizia, the 18-year-old accused of being at the heart of his divorce, were published showing them attending a Christmas party given by AC Milan, the football club that he owns. Photographs and a video clip were published by La Repubblica, the newspaper, on its website showing Letizia attending the party with her mother, Anna Palumbo, reports The Times.

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.