Italian General Election - Berlusconi on Trial

[Lalaith]

He could have fractured bones in his skull, too. Strange incident.

[Túrin Turambar]

Is this the end for him at last?

'Orgy' scandal puts Silvio Berlusconi at risk

AN account by an under-age nightclub dancer of an alleged erotic after-dinner party at his home has plunged Silvio Berlusconi into a new scandal.

Mr Berlusconi, 74, is reported to have invited Karima Keyek, 17 - better known as Ruby - to three parties at his opulent villa near Milan this year and to have showered her with presents of cash, jewellery and an Audi sports car.

Ruby, a 177cm-tall Moroccan, has testified that one of these parties included "bunga-bunga" - a form of orgy. The party supposedly featured a naked Mr Berlusconi and 20 female guests, also naked. Ruby has denied having sex with the Prime Minister and said she lied to him about her age.

Although he has weathered previous scandals, this case comes at a vulnerable time for the Prime Minister. He has been weakened by corruption investigations into ministers and his coalition is at the mercy of a breakaway by former ally Gianfranco Fini, which could rob him of his parliamentary majority.

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Admittedly things like this don't seem to have troubled Italian voters in the past. But seriously, just when I thought Berlusconi could do nothing else that would make me raise my eyebrows...

[Primula Baggins]

My eyebrows are stuck to the ceiling.

[Nin]

He did even worse since....

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has dismissed calls to resign over reports he helped a 17-year-old girl who attended parties at his house, saying it was "better to like beautiful girls than to be gay".

He refused to apologise for his fondness for young women and denied doing anything improper, after the case of the girl known as Ruby filled Italian newspapers last week.

"As always, I work without interruption and if occasionally I happen to look a beautiful girl in the face, it's better to like beautiful girls than to be gay," he said.

Mr Berlusconi, 74, has brushed off scandals over women, prostitutes and parties in the past but has been under unusual pressure since newspapers last week carried reports about the teenager who attended parties at his villa at Arcore near Milan.

The prime minister reportedly made a phone call to a Milan police chief on Ruby's behalf when she was detained over a theft in May, raising questions of whether he improperly intervened.

He says he helped Ruby, a Moroccan runaway whose real name is reported by newspapers to be Karima El Mahroug, but he denies exerting any improper pressure on police officers.

"This recent storm in the newspapers is a paper storm," he said.

"You will see in the end that nothing else happened apart from an act of solidarity by the prime minister, which I would have been ashamed not to do."

In an interview with the weekly Oggi, the teenager, who has since turned 18, said she received 7,000 euros ($9,760) from Mr Berlusconi after a party in February, which she attended with a group of 10 other young women.

She has denied having sex with him and said she had told him she was 24 when they met.

Mr Berlusconi's comments about homosexuality drew immediate condemnation from gay rights groups.

They were also criticised by Hollywood actress Julianne Moore, who was attending the Rome Film Festival to present The Kids Are All Right, a film about a lesbian couple raising their teenage children.

"I think it's unfortunate, archaic and idiotic," she said, when asked for her reaction to Mr Berlusconi's comments.

This man is a disgrace.

[Inanna]

How is he still Prime Minister? I am shocked.

[Ghân-buri-Ghân]

How is he still Prime Minister? I am shocked.

This is Italy...

[Nin]

And he owns most of the media.

But slowly, even the Italians grow tired of him. And that means something!


Personally, I dislike Mr. Berlusconi so strongly not because of his Neanderthal attitude towards women, but because he seems himself as above laws and controls the media so efficiently that I think Italy is dagerously tending towards a form of fascism.

I don't care whom he sleeps with or not. But I do care if a journalist who has written a book about the mafia of Naples does not get personal protection any more, because the Berlusconi gouvernement did decide he is not priority. It's a way of condeming the man to death. Or to hinder articles and/or books from being published. Or to close down radio stations who have a satiric programm about him.

But the Italians voted and re-voted for him. They are definetaly better at cooking than at politics.

[Ghân-buri-Ghân]

Berlusconi is a horrid little man. Men, big or small, generally are.

Women are the same, but in lipstick.

[axordil]

Berlusconi is a horrid little man. Men, big or small, generally are.

Women are the same, but in lipstick.

I'm not sure if you're channeling Ambrose Bierce or Dorothy Parker or both.

[Túrin Turambar]

Berlusconi has been committed to stand trial in April on charges of abuse of power and paying an underage girl for sex. He and the girl deny the charges.

Most commentators seem to think this will be his biggest challenge yet, though. At any rate many Italians seem to be tiring of their Prime Minister's antics.

[Túrin Turambar]

Looks like it's finally over for our friend. As part of the package of austerity measures designed to prevent Italy from doing a Greece, Berlusconi must go. He has lost a vote of confidence and has promised to resign. Assuming he doesn't find himself an out, it'll be the end of a (very odd) era.

But Ialy's problems might be only about to begin.

[Ghân-buri-Ghân]

Looks like it's finally over for our friend. As part of the package of austerity measures designed to prevent Italy from doing a Greece, Berlusconi must go. He has lost a vote of confidence and has promised to resign. Assuming he doesn't find himself an out, it'll be the end of a (very odd) era.

But Ialy's problems might be only about to begin.

It has been a "very odd era" since il Risorgimento in the nineteenth century...

[ToshoftheWuffingas]

And he owns most of the media.

There you have it.