Silvio Berlusconi on The Huffington Post

Gaspare Spatuzza, Mob Turncoat, Alleges Berlusconi Has Ties To Mafia

2009-12-04T10:02:31Z

ROME — A convicted mob hit man testified Friday that he was told Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi made a deal with the Mafia in the 1990s, offering unspecified benefits in exchange for political support.

Berlusconi has denied the allegations, which have set off the latest storm to rattle the scandal-plagued premier.

Portraits Of World Leaders: New Yorker Photographer Platon Photographs 44 (PHOTOS)

2009-11-30T07:44:29Z

This past September, when nearly all the world's leaders were in New York for a meeting of the United Nations, Platon, a staff photographer for this magazine, set up a tiny studio off the floor of the General Assembly, and tried to hustle as many of them in front of his lens as possible...

Veronica Lario, Berlusconi's Wife, Seeks $65 Million A Year In Alimony

2009-11-26T11:16:44Z

ROME (AP) -- Premier Silvio Berlusconi's estranged wife is seeking euro43 million ($65 million) a year in alimony in a divorce case she launched after her husband was embroiled in a sex scandal, a bid that was immediately rejected by the billionaire media mogul, an Italian newspaper reported Thursday.

Veronica Lario's lawyer was not immediately available to comment on the report in Corriere della Sera.

The alimony request, part of separation procedures, would work out to more than euro3.5 million ($5.3 million) a month.

Couples in Italy must be legally separated before divorce can be granted.

Corriere della Sera, citing what it said were "informed sources," said Berlusconi, Italy's second-richest man, made a counteroffer of euro200,000 monthly, and indicated willingness to go up to euro300,000 monthly.

Berlusconi, 73, is listed by Forbes magazine as the 70th richest person in the world, worth $6.5 billion.

Lario, a 52-year-old former actress, said earlier this year she was fed up with Berlusconi's infatuation with young women and was seeking divorce.

The scandal swirls around several parties and dinners at Berlusconi's Sardinia estate and Rome residence.

A southern Italian businessman, who has been arrested in a cocaine probe, has told investigators he procured some 30 young women to attend the parties in hope of currying favor with the premier. Among the guests was a prostitute who has said she spent the night with Berlusconi in the bedroom of the Rome residence.

Berlusconi, who says he is "no saint," has denied ever paying for sex. He isn't under investigation in the scandal.

Lario, Berlusconi's second wife, wed him in 1990 after several years together. She bore him three children, now in their 20s.

Corriere della Sera said Lario was seeking alimony that would allow her to maintain the style of life she now enjoys. The couple's children each hold a sizable stake in Fininvest, which groups Berlusconi's business interests in media and other companies.

According to the newspaper, Berlusconi already has given Lario some euro60 million ($90 million) to euro70 million ($105 million), apparently in the interests of the children.

Berlusconi also has two children from his first marriage.

Berlusconi Is Named `Rockstar of the Year' By Italian Rolling Stone

2009-11-25T09:19:10Z

ROME — He's Italian premier, media mogul and one of the country's richest men. Now Silvio Berlusconi can add "Rockstar of the Year" to his caps.

The Italian edition of Rolling Stone magazine said it named Berlusconi for a "lifestyle worthy of the greatest rock stars." The magazine dedicated the cover of its December issue to a smiling Berlusconi, the red, white and green colors of the Italian flag in the backdrop.

Berlusconi Is Sexual Record-Breaker, Says Prostitute

2009-11-24T17:03:50Z

The Italian prostitute at the centre of a sex scandal involving Silvio Berlusconi has explicitly claimed for the first time that she had sex with the Italian prime minister.

Patrizia D'Addario, Italian Escort, Says She Was "Threatened And Attacked After Meeting Silvio Berlusconi"

2009-11-23T11:00:48Z

ROME — The prostitute at the center of Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex scandal claims in a new book that she slept with him on the understanding he would help her set up a countryside inn but she got "nothing" in return.

Patrizia D'Addario, whose memoir went on sale Tuesday in Italy, writes she feels betrayed and has been frightened by strange threats, including the ransacking of her home, since she revealed this year that she had taped-recorded her purported bedroom encounter with Berlusconi.

Tony Hendra: Bloomberlusconi Wins in New York!

2009-11-04T10:31:03Z

Flouting the law, sneering at democracy, bachelor-at-large Michele Bloomberlusconi triumphed yesterday in his flagrant third-time purchase of the top spot in the supposedly smartest city in the world. The diminuitive, reptilian media mogul spent an unprecedented $90 million purchasing the office, convincing ordinary New Yorkers that as a bastion of Wall Street he could rescue the city from the financial sewer Wall Street created.

Global advertising agencies reeling from years of Internet erosion of their old-media base celebrated the win with wild enthusiasm. Chortled the 87-year-old Chief Creative Officer of BBY&ODDBOR -- InterPublic-IMJW-Media Group, "The Mayor's FABULOUS win spells it out. Crass, misleading wall-to-wall advertising supported by unlimited budget can still persuade people buy ANYTHING, however shoddy and discredited." Avanti Bloomberlusconi!

Berlusconi Blames Political Woes On "Communist" Enemies

2009-10-28T10:06:45Z

ROME, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gave a foretaste of how he may defend himself when he goes back on trial for corruption next month, attacking the judicial system as overrun by "communists" out to destroy him.

Berlusconi Offends 100,000 Women

2009-10-23T11:41:56Z

ROME (Oct. 22) -- More than 100,000 women have signed a petition saying they are offended by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, an initiative launched by a newspaper after the premier made a sexist remark to an opposition politician.

"Kill Berlusconi" Facebook Group Investigated By Italian Officials

2009-10-22T11:56:01Z

Italian officials have opened an investigation into a Facebook group, "Let's kill Berlusconi", for inciting hatred against the prime minister.

Berlusconi Denies Bribing Taliban To Protect Italian Troops

2009-10-15T11:32:52Z

ROME — Italy and NATO on Thursday denied a newspaper report that Italian intelligence secretly paid the Taliban thousands of dollars to keep the peace in an Afghan area under Italian control.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi's office called the report in the Times of London "completely groundless." The Italian defense minister denounced it as "rubbish" and said he wanted to sue the newspaper.

Berlusconi To "Bombard" Foreign Press With Propaganda

2009-10-13T09:49:48Z

Michael Day | The Independent

The beleaguered Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has ordered a special propaganda unit to "bombard" the foreign press with good news in an attempt to stem the tide of critical headlines overseas.

The media mogul has been infuriated by international coverage of the sex scandals that have beset him.

The Tourism Minister, Michela Vittoria Brambilla, announced yesterday that a group of "young journalists and communications experts" would "monitor all the foreign press, dailies, periodicals and TV, in every latitude from Japan to Peru" and "bombard it with accurate and positive news".

Continue reading at the Independent.

The Most Glamorous CEO Wives (PHOTOS, POLL)

2009-10-12T11:52:00Z

The world's top CEOs are, of course, known for their expensive hobbies, ridiculous spending, and legendary work habits. But what they're not always known for is good taste.

Their wives, on the other hand, don't have that problem. As you'll see below, these women can often overshadow their doughty, work-obsessed husbands.

With that in mind, we took at look at the most glamorous and successful wives of the most well-respected moguls. Take Salma Hayek, for example, an Oscar-nominated actress married to French billionaire Francois Henri-Pinault. Or, Georgina Chapman, the English designer and actress who was already a success in her own right when she wed Hollywood bigwig Harvey Weinstein.

Need more proof? Check out our photos of the most glamorous CEO wives, and vote for your favorite below.

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Michael Wolff: Berlusconi Is Going, Going...Almost Gone

2009-10-08T15:02:57Z

It could be that in the years ahead every Italian alive in the strange years of Silvio Berlusconi, as both his nation's leading media mogul and dominant political figure, will take a certain pride in being able to tell the tale. Grandchildren will gather round. Historians will debate the significant moments and, for years hence, be dishing out new details. And, for generations, there will be the aftereffects of the catharsis of his fall. Nixon for Americans will be a pale shade of villainy compared to Berlusconi for the Italians.

Anyway, it does appear that this week is, finally, the beginning of the end.

True, this man's run has seemed to have reasonably ended more times than any politician in any democracy. No politician has ever been so surrounded by ridicule, legal problems, and scandal, and survived so long. And, this isn't survival merely by trickery and corruption, but survival based on the remarkable tolerance, even awe, possible love, of a hefty majority of his countrymen.

Still. There is always an end. And it really does seem to be here.

Continue reading on newser.com

After Immunity Decision, Berlusconi Vows To Show All Italians "The Stuff I Am Made Of"

2009-10-08T08:28:38Z

ROME — Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Thursday he will go on TV and appear in courtrooms to prove that corruption and tax fraud charges in two trials against him are false.

The proceedings in Milan are to resume after a top Italian court overturned a law granting Berlusconi immunity from prosecution while in office. However, the main trial will have to start anew, lawyers said, making it unlikely that a verdict might be reached before the statute of limitations kicks in.

Fortune 's Stanley Bing: Silvio Keeps His Business Cool

2009-10-07T15:23:03Z

You've got to hand it to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. No matter what happens, he brings a thoroughly business mindset to the job of governing Italy. Sex scandals? He eats them for breakfast. Allegations of impropriety? It's all a Rupert Murduochian plot! Just today, he had something of a reversal. Italy's Constitutional Court, which is in charge of such things, decided that he and his top officials could be prosecuted for crimes committed while in office.

Now, a normal government official anywhere else in the world might blanche at such information. In Japan, the fellow might commit seppuku. In the United States, he might have to go on Oprah after holding the obligatory press conference. But not Mr. Berlusconi, who honed his public skills in the trenches of media ownership. Nope. The NY Times reports: "A defiant Mr. Berlusconi said he would 'forge on' and accused the Constitutional Court of 'left-wing' bias against him, the ANSA news agency reported. 'We must govern for five more years with or without the law.'"

Spoken like a true mogul! My money's on you, man!

Read more: Italy, Moguls, Silvio Berlusconi, World News