I'VE NEVER PAID A WOMAN-SILVIO BERLUSCONI

The multi-millionaire Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi has refuted allegations that he paid prostitutes to attend parties he hosted at his various homes.
The 72-year old denied he had ever paid for sex. ''I've never paid a woman. I never understood where the satisfaction is when you're missing the pleasure of conquest,'' Berlusconi said.

• According to Italian press agency ANSA, Berlusconi accused Patrizia D'Addario, the woman who alleges she was paid to spend the night with the premier in November of being involved in a plan to make up false accusations against him.
• D'Addario last week told an Italian newspaper that a local businessman now being probed by magistrates paid her €1,000 ($1,408) to attend a dinner at Berlusconi's Rome residence along with other young women, what she described as a "harem" and she was back a few weeks later to spend the night with the premier, Reuters.com reported.
• But Berlusconi told Chi: ''Behind the (investigators') probe in (the southern city of) Bari there's someone who gave Ms D'Addario very detailed and very well paid orders.'" Do you think the allegations against Berlusconi affect his ability to govern?".
• Despite the swirl of scandal Berlusconi remains popular, consistency scoring approval ratings of more than 60 percent.
  Source: CNN, ANSA, CHI