Berlusconi Wife Seeks $64M-a-Year Divorce

Veronica Lario will take reduced alimony payment

(NEWSER) - Love hurts, but it's divorce that's pummeling Silvio Berlusconi's wallet, reports the Independent . He's agreed to fork over a $105 million villa that soon-to-be ex-wife Veronica Lario is extremely attached to, and she in return will settle for alimony much less than the $5.3 million a month she had originally demanded. The missus, armed with Berlusconi's string of sex scandals, had vowed to make things messy if the Italian PM didn't go along with one of the most expensive divorce settlements in history. More»

He 'can't remember' the night escort says they had sex

(NEWSER) - Stubbornly unrepentant Silvio Berlusconi is insisting Italians support his behavior and "would like to be" him, reports the Telegraph. "Italians aren't stupid, and they prefer my government," added the randy prime minister, 74, on Italian television. The man who last week called himself "superman" insisted that "nothing spicy" happened between him and a teen model he was dogging. He also repeated that he "couldn't remember" the night an escort said they had sex. More»

(NEWSER) - Besieged Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is “a national joke,” Michael Wolff writes in Vanity Fair. He’s also immensely popular. In the midst of his most recent sex scandal, he and his party were handily reelected. What’s the deal? To begin with, “he controls his country’s dominant political party, its primary television networks, and its government.” So what if he's an incorrigible Lothario—"a dime-store Sinatra”—whose wife airs their dirty laundry and seeks divorce? More»

Wiretap dishes yet more dirt on Italian PM

(NEWSER) - Pimps, prostitutes, wiretaps, and blackmail: It's another week for the Berlusconi administration. Italian prosecutors have charged eight people with supplying prostitutes for sex parties at the prime minister's residence, reports the BBC . The ring was allegedly run by businessman Giampaolo Tarantini, who is already behind bars on charges that he attempted to extort cash from Berlusconi in return for lying to investigators. More»

Italian PM ready to leave his 'shitty' country

(NEWSER) - The “bunga bunga” fallout continues: Police nabbed an Italian businessman for allegedly blackmailing Silvio Berlusconi in the sex scandal that’s clouded his tenure as prime minister. Giampaolo Tarantini has acknowledged recruiting women for Berlusconi’s alleged sex parties, but he’s maintained that the PM didn’t know that some were escorts. Police say Tarantini was paid almost $750,000 to protect Berlusconi and to seek a fast-track trial that would reveal as little as possible about the parties. More»