Silvio Berlusconi: Mussolini Did Well As A Leader..

Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has praised fascist leader Benito Mussolini's leadership skills at a Holocaust memorial event, but said he was wrong to pass anti-Jewish laws.

In widely criticised comments at the event in Milan, the former Prime Minister said: "It's difficult now to put yourself in the shoes of people who were making decisions at that time. "Obviously the government of that time, out of fear that German power might lead to complete victory, preferred to ally itself with Hitler's Germany rather than opposing it.

"As part of this alliance, there were impositions, including combating and exterminating Jews. The racial laws were the worst fault of Mussolini as a leader, who in so many other ways did well.

The centre-left Democratic Party, the movement expected to beat Berlusconi's party in the February elections, condemned his comments. A spokesman told Reuters: "Our republic is based on the struggle against Nazi fascism and these are intolerable remarks which are incompatible with leadership of democratic political forces.

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Arrivederci Silvio Berlusconi

'Too Much Sex Can Be a Bad Thing'

PETA Germany launched a racy new ad featuring playboy Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the slogan “Too Much Sex Can Be a Bad Thing … for Dogs and Cats Too. There Are So Many Homeless Animals – Please Spay or Neuter Your Animal Companion!” Other celebrities who have appeared in “Too Much Sex” ads for PETA and its affiliates include adult film stars Sasha Grey, Jenna Jameson and Ron Jeremy as well as golfer Tiger Woods, although, in his case, as with Mr Berlusconi, involuntarily.

“Il Cavaliere can do a great service by encouraging everyone to have their dogs and cats  desexed”, says our own Mimi Bekhechi. “The hundreds of thousands of homeless strays in Italy don’t make headlines as Berlusconi does, but they need people to pay attention to the crisis caused by the animals’ casual sex.”

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Silvio Berlusconi faces Ruby sex charge trial in April

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has been indicted to stand trial on charges of paying for sex with an under-age prostitute and abuse of power. Examining judge Cristina Di Censo said the process would start on 6 April, after prosecutors in Milan asked for an immediate trial.

Mr Berlusconi denies paying for sex with Karima El Mahroug when she was 17. He also rejects claims that he abused his power by seeking her release when she was detained in another case.

He has called the accusations "groundless" and dismissed the case as a farce. Mr Berlusconi does, however, acknowledge that he called the police while she was being held on suspicion of theft. He said he was doing a favour for the then-Egyptian leader, Hosni Mubarak, because Mr Berlusconi was told the girl was Mr Mubarak's granddaughter.

If convicted, the prime minister could face up to 15 years in prison.

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Berlusconi Says West Considered Mubarak ‘Wisest Man’ in Mideast

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi declined to call for the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, saying the U.S. and Europe had considered him a “reference point” and “the wisest man” in the Middle East.

Asked directly if the time had come for Mubarak to step aside, Berlusconi said he hoped for “continuity in the government.” Western leaders want a “more democratic system without ruptures with a president like Mubarak that all the Western hemisphere, including the U.S., had considered the wisest man and a reference point in all of the Middle East,” Berlusconi said on arriving at a meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels today.

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Berlusconi criticised for 'use of policewomen's outfits at "bunga bunga" sessions

Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, today came under attack from a new and unexpected quarter when a police trade union objected to the reported use of policewomen's outfits for striptease shows at his home.

According to prosecution documents delivered to parliament, so-called "bunga bunga" sessions at Berlusconi's villa near Milan involved female guests putting on – and then gradually taking off – skimpy nurses' outfits and police uniforms.

Berlusconi, who denies any wrongdoing, said yesterday he had no intention of resigning because of the latest disclosures, adding: "I'm enjoying myself."

Giorgio Innocenzi, the secretary general of the independent police trades union confederation, said that, if the accounts were borne out, "it would be a very serious development that impugns the high levels of professionalism guaranteed by women in the police".

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Silvio Berlusconi in ‘protection deal with mafia’

The billionaire Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, once met a leading mafia godfather to ask for protection, according to testimony gathered over several years by crime prosecutors.

Mafia informants claim the meeting took place in Milan in 1974, when Berlusconi was already a wealthy entrepreneur, at the offices of his property company. The informers say Berlusconi met Stefano Bontade, then one of the mafia’s most powerful bosses, because he feared for his family’s safety at a time when Italy was plagued by a wave of high-profile kidnappings.

Francesco Di Carlo, one of Bontade’s henchmen who is now in jail, told prosecutors that he was at the meeting. He claims Berlusconi asked for help to ensure that neither he nor his children would be abducted by other mafia clans.

According to the henchman’s testimony, Bontade gave his word that he would personally ensure Berlusconi’s safety. In return Berlusconi told the mafia godfather that he was “at his disposal, for anything”.

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