The 74-year-old faces trial in Milan over charges that he paid for sex with a Moroccan minor and used his influence to try cover it up.

In court documents, the prosecutors have identified 33 women, including the Moroccan, involved in parties at Berlusconi's villa.

The premier told La Repubblica -- a leftist newspaper that has called for his resignation in the wake of the scandal -- that "even though I am a little brat ... 33 girls in two months seems like too much even for a 30 year old."

He vows to participate in all hearings of his trial, which opens April 6.

Continue Reading...

Niccolo Ghedini told reporters outside a Milan courtroom that the defense has asked the head of Milan's court to schedule hearings for Mondays. Berlusconi is defending himself in the prostitution case as well as in separate trials involving dealings stemming from the billionaire's business empire.

"The premier considers it opportune to show up in person to defend himself," Ghedini said. Italian law leaves it up to the defendant whether they want to show up in court during trial.

"We have asked the court to set aside Mondays" on its calendar for Berlusconi's various trials, the lawyer said. "It's the most you can expect. For a premier, one day a week is no small thing," Ghedini said, insisting Berlusconi was making the "maximum effort" to be available.

Ghedini was awaiting the start of a preliminary hearing for Berlusconi in a case stemming from the sale of film rights by one of the premier's media companies. Because of a technicality, that hearing was put off till March 28.

Continue Reading...

Prosecutors say Berlusconi's Mediaset media empire purchased TV rights for U.S. movies through two "offshore" companies and falsely declared the costs to reduce its tax bill.

Berlusconi, who wasn't in court Monday, has denied the allegations.

The trial was suspended last year after parliament passed legislation allowing the premier and other government officials to postpone ongoing trials for six months, renewable for up to a total of 18 months, if the defendant has a "legitimate impediment" stemming from being an elected official.

Italy's Constitutional Court weakened the legislation last month, rejecting the automatic and enduring shield from trial the law provided. The court gave judges the power to verify each time the claim to a "legitimate impediment" is made and decide whether the defendant should be exempt from trial.

On Monday, Berlusconi's lawyers didn't claim a legitimate impediment. The next hearing was set for April 11, when Berlusconi probably will appear, attorney Niccolo Ghedini said, according to LaPresse news agency.

Continue Reading...

Now I know why Venice is sinking. It's under the weight of Silvio Berlusconi's giant balls.

Continue Reading...

In an email exchange with The Associated Press on Wednesday and Thursday, Karima El Mahrough, who goes by the stage name Ruby, lamented that she has been "treated as a prostitute by all the Italian and foreign media."

"I WANT TO BE COMPENSATED for having been hurt so much and all the gold in the world would not be enough," she wrote to the AP.

Ruby, now 18, requested euro15,000 ($20,340) for a full TV interview, saying: "I don't do anything for nothing."

The AP, a nonprofit media organization, does not pay for interviews.

Berlusconi was indicted Tuesday on charges that he paid for sex with Ruby when she was 17 and under age, then used his influence to cover it up. The trial begins April 6 in Milan.

Berlusconi has denied ever paying for sex. Ruby, in a Jan. 19 television interview on a TV channel owned by Berlusconi, said she met the 74-year-old premier at a dinner party at his villa and that he gave her euro7,000 ($9,500) that evening, but never "put a finger on me."

Continue Reading...

Continue Reading...

Berlusconi is going on trial April 6 in Milan on charges that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old Moroccan girl and then tried to cover it up. Berlusconi has stood trial on a number of business-related charges, but this is the first time the 74-year-old billionaire businessman is being tried for personal conduct.

The premier has called the accusations "groundless" and dismissed the case as a "farce," accusing prosecutors of seeking to oust him from power.

Judge Cristina Di Censo handed down the indictment with a terse statement. The trial will be heard by a panel of three judges, all of them women. The decision means Di Censo believes there is sufficient evidence to subject Berlusconi to an immediate trial, as had been requested by prosecutors. The speeded-up procedure skips the preliminary hearing stage and is ordered in cases of overwhelming evidence.

There was no immediate comment from Berlusconi. He skipped a planned appearance at a news conference in Sicily about immigration, and was returning to Rome.

Continue Reading...

Prosecutor Edmondo Bruti Liberati said Tuesday he would deposit the request with the Milan court Wednesday when he would decide whether to seek trial on both accusations simultaneously.

Prosecutors allege Berlusconi paid for sex with a Moroccan girl, then phoned police on her behalf when she was detained for an alleged theft.

Berlusconi has denied the accusations and accused the prosecutors of seeking to drive him from office. The woman, who is now 18, has said they never had sex, though she says he gave her euro7,000 ($9,400).

Continue Reading...

Berlusconi is the third richest man in Italy and the 74th wealthiest person in the world. His personal fortune lies in real estate, his influence cemented through a vice grip on the country's media landscape. His BFF is Vladimir Putin. And he's an alleged sex addict. 

Continue Reading...

Milan prosecutors allege Berlusconi paid for sex with a minor and then used his office to cover it up. They wanted to search the offices of a Berlusconi accountant, Giuseppe Spinelli, who allegedly handled payments on behalf of the premier to the minor as well as to scores of young women attending parties at his villas.

But parliament rebuffed their requests in a vote Thursday. They sent the case back to the prosecutors, challenging their jurisdiction.

The premier has denied wrongdoing. Prosecutors must seek permission from parliament because lawmakers enjoy some immunity, and Berlusconi, in addition to being premier, is a member of the lower house of parliament.

The vote might have limited impact on the investigation. Magistrates are planning to go ahead with their probe, and are expected to issue a request for indictment of Berlusconi as early as next week.

But the vote's outcome might be significant in assessing Berlusconi's grip on parliament. The premier has seen his parliamentary majority eroded after he fell out with an ally last year, and he barely survived a pair of confidence votes in December.

Continue Reading...

In a statement Friday, Berlusconi called the investigations "absurd" and noted he has been investigated over 100 times, yet never convicted.

The latest probe by Milan prosecutors is looking into whether the 74-year-old premier had sex with a 17-year-old nightclub dancer nicknamed Ruby, and then used the powers of office inappropriately to try to hide the encounter.

Berlusconi's lawyers have called the probe groundless.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

ROME (AP) -- Prosecutors are investigating whether Premier Silvio Berlusconi paid for sex with a teenage girl from Morocco and then abused his power in trying to cover up the encounters, officials said Friday.

The investigation, which Berlusconi's lawyer called "absurd and groundless," escalated a long history of accusations of sexual and financial impropriety aimed at the billionaire businessman, who has become Italy's longest-serving postwar leader despite corruption trials, international gaffes and political infighting.

Continue Reading...

Fellow cabinet ministers insisted that Gianni Letta, Berlusconi's right-hand man, was only joking Wednesday when he said the government's prospects "seem in these hours to be narrowing not to years but to shorter periods and timeframes."

Berlusconi has insisted his government would serve the remainder of its term until 2013 elections. But over the weekend Berlusconi's estranged one-time ally Gianfranco Fini formally called on him to resign for the good of the country.

Berlusconi has been dogged by new reports of encounters with a prostitute and ties to an underage Moroccan girl.

Continue Reading...

10. At an event earlier this fall, Berlusconi advised driven young women to just marry for money.

9. In 2008, he deemed the cabinet of Spanish President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero as "too pink" -- because half the positions were filled by women.

8. While touring the earthquake-devastated region of Abruzzo, Berlusconi asked female councilor Lia Giovanzzi Beltrami, "Can I fondle you?"

Continue Reading...

His comments sparked outrage from gay rights groups and fueled new calls for him to step down.

Opposition politicians have charged that Berlusconi abused his office by calling Milan police in May when the then-17-year-old runaway nicknamed Ruby was detained for alleged theft. Newspapers have reported that Berlusconi told police that a local party official would take custody of the girl, who had visited Berlusconi's Milan villa on at least one occasion.

Even center-right commentators in Berlusconi's family-owned newspapers have criticized him for intervening in a possible criminal case. Berlusconi's now-estranged ally, Gianfranco Fini, said his antics had embarrassed the country.

But Berlusconi again defended his lifestyle and fondness for young women, telling a trade fair in Milan on Tuesday it was "better to be passionate about a beautiful girl than a gay."

Gay rights group Arcigay demanded an apology for causing offense to both women and gays.

Continue Reading...

Especially for Americans accustomed to complaining about the high-octane vapidity of our own media culture, "Videocracy" is like a startling glimpse into a funhouse mirror or a science-fiction alternate reality, one that suggests things could be a lot worse than they are. If you imagine an America in which Rupert Murdoch owns all the major broadcast networks along with most of the cable channels and publishing houses, and then gets himself elected president for life -- and further imagine replacing the American blend of sexual Puritanism and hypocrisy with the cheesiest kind of Euro-licentiousness -- you've got the democracy of boobs (in all senses) depicted by Gandini.

Continue Reading...

To say that Berlusconi has had a bad year would be a monumental understatement. On Sunday, a protester's shockingly brutal attack landed him in the hospital and allegations of his mafia ties have been renewed once again -- but he also has a whopper of a woman problem. He's had not one but two sex scandals: This spring, his wife publicly announced she was leaving him following rumors about his romance with an 18-year-old girl, and an Italian businessman recently alleged that he supplied the prime minister with 30 aspiring starlets -- including one prostitute -- for personal entertainment at his various vacation homes.

Continue Reading...

Police said the 42-year-old man accused of attacking Berlusconi as he signed autographs in Milan was immediately taken into custody. The Italian leader was rushed to a hospital where he was being held overnight.

The attack occurred at a time when Berlusconi, one of Italy's wealthiest men, is embroiled in a sex scandal, a divorce case with his wife and public protests demanding his resignation.

TV showed the stunned leader with blood under his nose, on his mouth and under one eye as he was lifted to his feet by aides after Sunday's attack. He was hustled into the back of a car, but he immediately got out, apparently to show he was not badly injured.

But Berlusconi suffered a "small fracture" of the nose, two broken teeth and an injury to the inside and outside of his lip, said Paolo Klun, chief spokesman for Milan's San Raffaele Hospital.

"He wanted to go home right away, but he is being held as a precaution" for overnight observation, Klun said. The premier suffered "a significant bruising trauma from this blunt instrument that was hurled at him."

Continue Reading...

Last week at a TV awards ceremony, the notoriously inappropriate Berlusconi reportedly told a woman, "If I weren't married, I would marry you immediately." To another he pronounced: "With you, I'd go anywhere." His comments were picked up by the Italian press and Lario decided to speak up. "I see these statements as damaging my dignity," she wrote in a letter published today by La Repubblica, a newspaper that has been highly critical of Berlusconi. "To both my husband and the public man, I therefore demand a public apology since I haven't received any privately."

Continue Reading...

But while Harry Reid's move Tuesday to throw the Senate into closed session to demand answers on Iraq intelligence was a good start, Democrats need a lot more of such fighting spirit to prevail, despite all Bush's troubles.

First the good ship Harriet Miers was torpedoed after movement conservatives rose up in righteous revolt (but for James Dobson, who was whispered who knows which sweet nothings to keep him in line). Then the cleanest of prosecutors galloped in, wearing the whitest of hats and astride the whitest of horses, as investigating judges have done in recent years to take down Italian corruption when political parties were on the take and journalists had more amusing fish to fry. Patrick Fitzgerald alleged numerous lies on the part of Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney's "Cheney," and couldn't say whether Cheney himself was culpable in the White House campaign to smear Joseph Wilson, a conscientious objector to their war campaign. In the process, Fitzgerald grazed awfully close to the vice president and simultaneously decided to keep a Washington grand jury in business while he looks into a whole stud farm of Augean stables: Karl Rove's, above all, but also the Italian secret services that in 2002 colluded with who knows whom to circulate forged Nigerien documents that helped Bush ease his way into the calamitous Iraq war. If it wasn't bad enough for Bush that Libby was out, Fitzgerald let it be known that he was not necessarily done cleaning out bad guys. And to add insult to injury, along came Bush's once-staunch ally, Silvio Berlusconi, his own reelection campaign looming nigh, to declare that in 2003 he tried to talk Bush out of going to war against Saddam Hussein. Berlusconi has been telling this story for at least a year. So much for the fervor of Bush's "coalition of the willing."

Continue Reading...