Silvio Berlusconi : Man of countless trials

Silvio Berlusconi faces five-year prison sentence, called by Italian prosecutors of the tax lawyer bribery case.

Milan / NationalTurk – Italian prosecutors have called for ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to be sentenced to five years in jail for bribing his former tax lawyer back in the 90′s according to Italian media report.

“It is certain, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the defendant [Mr Berlusconi] is guilty,” prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale told an Italian court on Wednesday.

Silvio Berlusconi’s defence is based on false documents, the Italian prosecutor stated.

Silvio Berlusconi :  Man of countless trials

Berlusconi is accused of paying British tax lawyer David Mills $US600,000 to give false testimony in several trials against the then- media tycoon / politician / club chairman in the 1990s. Recently resigned Italian Prime Minister denies all charges and accuses prosecutors of plotting against him.

Mills, a specialist in offshore tax havens, was convicted by a Milan court in 2009 and sentenced to 4,5 years in prison, but an appeals court concluded the corruption case in 2010 because it was prescribed.Now Italian prosecutors want to put ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in prison for five years for bribing his former lawyer to lie in court.

Four trials against Silvio Berlusconi are under way in Milan for cases ranging from paying a minor for sex to corruption. He denies having done anything wrong in all the cases and says he’s a victim of political persecution by a left-wing Milan magistrate.

Euro debt crisis that keeps sweeping up victims

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s longest serving democratically-elected prime minister in 150 years since unification, has exited the domestic political stage after 17 years of premiership, but the prime minister is far from losing his grip on Italy.

Rome / NationalTurk – After Berlusconi lost the support of eight members of his Forza Italia political party in the aftermath of a budget vote, the scandal-wracked politician dubbed as ‘The Great Survivor’ began to drown. The nickname is a reference to Berlusconi’s ability to clear himself from numerous allegetions and votes of confidences in the parliament regarding corruption, bribery and defraudation.

Euro debt crisis that keeps sweeping up victims

Berlusconi resigns and his exit comes on the heels of the exit of Greece’s prime minister, George Papandreou. Thus the Euro debt crisis has dragged down its second victimized prime minister.

At a formal meeting with President Georgio Napolitano it was agreed he will resign as soon as the Parliament has passed the tough austerity package demanded by other euro zone members.

What was said between the Italian president and his prime minister, who dislike each other, is not yet known. Until the parliamentary vote when he lost his governing majority, Silvio Berlusconi seemed determined to hang on to power any way he could. Opponents and even some in his own party protested that he, with his maverick statements refusing to accept the seriousness of Italy’s financial plight, was a major part of the country’s credit crisis. Yet the 75-year-old billionaire seemed less concerned about his country’s troubles but more about clinging to the levers of Italian government.

President Napolitano undoubtedly insisted Berlusconi go, but despite the urgings of some opposition politicians that he go now, immediate resignation would cause almost certainly a period of prolonged political chaos as parties squabbled as to the make-up of a new coalition government. It always does in Italy. Which means that the Parliament might fail to pass the necessary new austerity measures.

Thus Silvio Berlusconi has one final chance to impress — this time to claim that he is doing the decent thing by staying on in the premier’s office during difficult political circumstances. He will not, he insists, be putting himself forward as a candidate when elections are held, perhaps next year. This will be probably seen by many in Italy as insincere as so much else in his remarkable political career. They will find it difficult to believe that the great survivor will give up so easily. They will be convinced that he will seek an excuse to go back on his resignation ‘for the good of Italy.’ Berlusconi will also very probably be using his final weeks in presidential office to clean up any evidence that might further implicate him in the charges of bribery, tax evasion and fraud that he currently faces. For good measure, he will also seek to clear away any proof of his tawdry private life. He has bounced back before.

Can Italy Put Berlusconi Behind It ?

Most Italians will now be glad to see the back of a man whose behavior and management has dragged their country’s international reputation through the mud. Yet it has to be said that Italian voters are also the people who need to be blamed for giving this unedifying individual three different terms in office over the longest period since 1861 (Mussolini excepted — and he was not elected). It is true that the political vehicle he created for himself, Forza Italia was always in coalition with smaller right-wing parties, but it is still clear that a significant number of Italians backed him. They hoped he could bring the success he had enjoyed in business to the running of their floundering country. Initially they laughed at his antics. Now they have discovered that the price Italy must pay for having such a shady character as its leader is a serious and damaging loss of international reputation.

Berlusconi and Italy : Sharing the fate of Greece ?

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi denied what he called groundless rumors over his possible resignation after learning about statements projecting his certain resignation by one of his closest collaborators.

Rome / NationalTurk – Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi denied what he called groundlessrumors over his possible resignation after learning about statements predicting his inevitable resignation by one of his closest collaborators.

Il Foglio newspaper editor in chief and journalist Giuliano Ferrara, one of the premier´s closest advisors, declared the national press that Silvio Berlusconi was readying his unevitable resignation.

His resignation is a matter of hours away, noted Giuliano Ferrara, quoted by Italian Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Later on, Italian Pm Silvio Berlusconi himself denounced the falseness of Ferrara´s claims, although his political situation worsens even more.

The Italian prime minister bragged about the fact of holding the majority of votes in the Italian parliament during the recently concluded G-20 in Cannes, but on his return, he found a completely different situation in Rome.

Italy : Sharing the fate of Greece ?

Amid the pressing crisis gripping the European Union, Italy accepted that its economy be supervised every three months by the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission, which means the same dependence to which Athens is subject to, in exchange for aid.

Genoa and Italy’s western coastline was hit by floods.

Two rivers broke their banks and torrents of uprooted trees and swept cars and furniture through the streets.

The Genoa city website advised people not to leave their homes and to climb to the upper floors.

A fire department spokesman said six people were confirmed dead and one person was missing. Two of the dead were reported to be children.

Tomorrow’s Serie A soccer match between local team Genoa and rivals Inter Milan has been postponed.

Much of northern Italy was hit by heavy rains yesterday, and flooding was also reported in Venice.

İtaly Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has given Italy’s civil protection chief extra authority to provide assistance to residents.

Silvio Berlusconi still rocks with his Bunga Bunga

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi claims: ‘ I am a religious man and besides Bunga Bunga parties involve dancing not sex.’ says the ever controversial Italian.

Rome / NationalTurk – The 75-year-old Italian Prime Minister claims he was a religious man and orgies at which young women were paid for sex had been ‘may be the dreams of porn-obsessed judges’.

The media tycoon is charged with having sex with an underage prostitute at a party when strippers dressed as nuns, but he denied it. The politician is accused of having sex with an underage prostitute at one of the parties where women were also said to have dressed as nuns, before performing raunchy stripteases and pole dances – allegedly rubbing crucifixes between their breasts.

‘There was no sacrilegious behaviour at my house, i am a religous man’  Silvio Berlusconi says. “When a guest said, ‘Are we going to have some bunga bunga after dinner?’ they were just talking about dancing,” he added.

Currently the Prime Minister is facing four court hearings in total.

The Milan Attorney”s Office officially demanded to prosecute Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for involvement in a phone-tapping case, illegally.

The appeal was lodged by fiscal Maurizio Romanelli after accepting petition of examining magistrate Stefania Donadeo after she refused to close the file on Berlusconi’s cause last September 15.

The denunciation said the Prime Minister was involved in publishing, in the Il Giornale newspaper owned by his brother Paolo,official secrets of irregular purchase of the National Italian Bank by Unipol company.

The fact in question date back to 2005 when the quoted newspaper revealed a phone tapped conversation between the tehn leade of the left-wing Democratic Party Piero Fassino and Unipol President Giovanni Consorte.

The investigation proved that Roberto Raffaelli, director of the research Control System Company (RSC), in charged of the phone-tapping, showed the recording to Berlusconi’s brothers who showed their satisfaction and appreciation instead of their disapproving them.

If he is sent to trial that will be the fifth case opened against the Head of Government that denounces his country’s justice for orchestrating actions to damage his political reputation.

By a majority decision, the services and products committee of AGCOM, the communications watchdog authority, has imposed the maximum permitted fine of €258,230 on the TG1 and TG4 newscasts, since they are repeat offenders, and fines of €100,000 each on TG2, TG5 and Studio Aperto. The decision, taken “in the light of statements submitted”, for “the situation that obtained on the evening of Friday 20th May, when the broadcast of interviews with the prime minister by the TG1, TG2, TG5, TG4 and Studio Aperto newscasts took place in prime time”.

According to Corriere della Sera, practically all of Italy’s leading free-to-air news programmes, with the exceptions of TG3 and the La7 newscast, gave air-time to the People of Freedom (PDL) leader. Mr Berlusconi had been invited as the leader of his party for the administrative elections. Viewers saw him seated at a desk with the PDL logo clearly visible. However, this was not a media briefing. Each channel recorded its own interview and all of them went out at almost exactly the same time. The AGCOM fines, pointed out the watchdog’s chair Corrado Calabrò, ensued from “a strictly legal assessment and no political assessment”. Mr Calabrò added: “The committee carried out a technical and legal assessment of the situation. The infringement exists and the sanctions are a natural consequence”.

REGULATIONS BROKEN – A note from the watchdog says: “On 21st May, AGCOM requested urgent clarification from the broadcasters involved. In view of the comments received from RAI and Mediaset, the committee ruled that the interviews, all of which contained opinions and political evaluations of issues pertaining to the election campaign, and all of which were similar in terms of media exposure, constituted a violation of electoral regulations issued by the parliamentary watchdog committee and by AGCOM”. The committee’s decision was not unanimous. PDL senator Antonio Martusciello voted against the measure.

“DUTY OF BALANCE” – The AGCOM note continues: “The authority reaffirms that a duty of balance and completeness of information remains in force until the conclusion of the election campaign while second-round voting is under way”. Finally, the watchdog authority pointed out that “the ban on publishing survey results on voting intentions remains in force throughout Italy until completion of the second round of the administrative elections”.

REACTIONS – “Mediaset is astounded at the sanctions imposed by AGCOM today and will be appealing forthwith to the regional administrative court (TAR)”, said a Mediaset press release. “With this ruling, the authority is in effect preventing television broadcasters from performing their task of informing, and in doing so becomes party to the political exchange and not its arbiter, as the law intends”. Emilio Fede commented on the decision live on his evening newscast: “TG4 has violated absolutely nothing at all”. Augusto Minzolini, the director of TG1, said he was “appalled” and pointed out that the fines “involve all the newscasts that interviewed the prime minister but there was a story. He had said nothing for five days”. TG5 director Clemente Mimun thinks it is “totally absurd that interviewing the leader of the party of relative majority, and prime minister, for comment on the results of the first round of administrative elections should attract fines from a watchdog body. What has happened is of unprecedented seriousness. It presents as an act of grave intimidation, which of course will be ignored by the bodies representing Italian journalists. For our part, we will refuse to yield to interference or threats of any kind”.

RADICALS’ COMPLAINT – The incident may, however, have a sequel in court. During the morning, Emma Bonino and Marco Cappato submitted a formal complaint to the public prosecutor’s offices in Rome and Milan “against Berlusconi and the directors of the newscasts who on 20th May broadcast the sham interviews recorded by the president of the party of the People of Freedom”. The Radicals’ complaint highlights that “Berlusconi’s appearances on the newscasts are, by reason of the issues discussed, the electoral symbol behind the prime minister and the way the recording was edited, tantamount to electoral commercials of the kind strictly prohibited in news programmes”. The complaint points out that “if Berlusconi had by virtue of his position coerced or induced the directors of the TV newscasts to broadcast these commercials simultaneously, it would have been in no way different – in the structure of the conduct, the subjective quality of those involved and the obvious benefits accruing to the president of the party of the People of Freedom – from the abuse of power alleged against the prime minister by the public prosecutors in Milan when he contacted the chief of police by telephone to have Ruby handed over to regional counsellor Nicole Minetti, contrary to regulations. Should, however, the newscast directors have been fully aware and compliant, then there would be an evident offence of abuse of authority”.

Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, lost his temper with a freelance journalist at a press conference yesterday and ordered him to be ejected.

The journalist, Rocco Carlomagno, was manhandled by Ignazio La Russa, the Defence Minister, after he rose to shout an unscheduled question to the Prime Minister about the future of Guido Bertolaso, the head of the Civil Protection Agency and Mr Berlusconi’s right hand man.

Mr Bertolaso has been caught up in an investigation by magistrates into an alleged bribery and sex for favours scandal involving building contracts for last year’s G8 summit in Italy. He denies any wrongdoing.

Increasingly under pressure over falling ratings amid corruption scandals and bungled election candidacies by his party, Mr Berlusconi, 73, called Mr Carlomagno a “boor”, adding “Mr Bertolaso will be able to sue you. Shame on you!” and asking aides to “show him the door”. He added: “Every morning when you look in the mirror to comb your hair you have already ruined your day”.

Mr La Russa left the podium to subdue the journalist, saying: “Behave, you lout” and grabbing him by the back of the jacket. Mr Carlomagno, a left-wing journalist noted for campaigning against nuclear power, was not ejected, but told reporters afterwards that he would lodge a complaint against Mr La Russa for “aggression”, claiming the Minister had punched him in the chest.

The Italo incarnation of Simon Cowell’s “Got Talent” franchise debuted Dec. 12 on Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset web Canale 5 and quickly drew fire from TV critics.

Crix blasted it for blatantly aping “Britain’s Got Talent” by putting on a frumpy, middle-age singer in the style of Susan Boyle, the British show’s Scottish singing sensation-turned-pop-phenom.

Carmen Masola, a decidedly non-photogenic former newsstand agent, competently belted out the “Casta Diva” aria from Vincenzo Bellini’s “Norma,” leaving co-host Gerry Scotti teary-eyed.

Masola, 38, who trained as an opera singer, says her career had been blocked because she was “too fat” and cited Boyle and her frump-to-fame rise as her role model.

But Corriere della Sera columnist Aldo Grasso echoed many critics when he complained the talent show had “no experimentation, no research, no new ideas: They are just mechanically adapting this foreign format to an Italian context.”

A local viewer who identified himself as Marco, lamented on TVblog.it that “the substantial difference between Susan Boyle and Carmen is that the first one can carry a tune.”

Despite that, ratings for “Italy’s Got Talent” bow hummed. It scored a 26.6% average share to win the evening’s primetime crown, peaking at a 42% share while Masola was singing.

And Masola, like Boyle, is also scoring plenty of traffic on YouTube.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is due to leave hospital later today after spending his fourth night under observation.

The 73-year-old is believed to have suffered a fractured his nose and two broken teeth after being struck by a souvenir model cathedral while greeting supporters in Milan on Sunday night.

Doctors claim the Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi  is still in pain and struggling to eat properly.

He is expected to be discharged this afternoon but has been urged to scale down public appearances for at least the next two weeks.

A 42-year-old man with a history of mental illness has been arrested in connection with the assault on Mr Berlusconi.

On Wednesday another man was arrested outside the hospital room where the Italian PM is receiving treatment.

Berlusconi who was struck on the face with a statue of the Milan cathedral thrown by Massimo Tartaglia, a 42-year-old man with an alleged history of psychological problems.

See the video of Massimo Tartaglia attacking Silvio Berlusconi

Police announced that a 26 year old man took the elevator to the seventh floor and tried to enter the room of Berlusconi while in recovery from his facial wounds that he received in the attack.

News reports described the man as apparently mentally unstable. He was not reported to be carrying weapons or dangerous objects and had just wanted to talk to Mr. Berlusconi.

Over the past year, political passions have coursed through the nation with unusual intensity as the billionaire prime minister faced several corruption trials and his personal life came under scrutiny. His wife, Veronica Lario, announced that she was divorcing him and accused him of conducting relationships with young women.

The emotions have spilled over onto the streets and into cyberspace with groups on Facebook supporting the attack on Mr. Berlusconi.

See the full video of thr incident bellow

Berlusconi was today recovering in hospital with a fractured nose, 2 broken teeth and a lip injury a San Raffaele hospital after being attacked in yesterdays political rally.

The attack occurred when the leader was signing autographs and was greeting the crowd outside a cathedral.

Berlusconi who was dazed and fell on the floor was seen being put into a car but his injuries looked very distressing with a bloodied face and much distress in Mr Berlusconi’s face.

Berlusconi’s personal doctor, Alberto Zangrillo, said he would be kept under observation in for at least 24 hours and would need up to 15 days to recover.

The Italian prime minister asked to see the newspapers as soon as he woke up, the Italian ANSA news agency reported.

He told ANSA he was “fine” and considered it a “miracle” that he had not been hit in the eyes.

Massimo Tartaglia, a 42-year-old Milan resident with a history of mental illness, was detained by police and is being questioned, Italian media reports said.

Earlier in the evening, Berlusconi told a rally to mark the opening of public membership of the People of Freedom party, that his popularity rating stood at 63%.

Opinion polls have however been saying his popularity has sliped to 50% due to a year full of controversy with legal troubles newspaper headlines about his alleged involvement in sex scandals.

The Italian Prime Minister who was punched in the mouth and was left with a blody face was rushed into a car where blood was clearly seen by on lookers when he was being lifted up on his feet and when in the car.

Berlusconi tried to get out of the car to show that he was alright to his fans but after looking out into the crowed he was pulled back into the black vehicle.

Sky TG24 TV said Mr. Berlusconi was taken to a Milan hospital to be treated.

The earliest news we have is that a man in his 30’s or early 40’s was caught on scene of the attack and is being detained in police headquarters.

Witnesses were heard telling reporters that the man who punched Berlusconi had a metal object on his fist.

Berlusconi is also a billionaire one of the richest men in Italy however controvery has never left the Prime Minister with many protests against him.