Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is set to learn this week whether he might be scrubbing toilets or working with drug addicts after opting to do community service for tax fraud.

Former premier Silvio Berlusconi is turning to Europe’s human rights court in a bid to avoid a ban on public office and other punishments for his tax fraud conviction, the media mogul’s aides said yesterday.

Silvio Berlusconi’s political fate is in the hands of Italy’s highest court, which is preparing to hear arguments in the former premier’s fraud conviction today.

Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi said he would not flee Italy and was ready to go to jail rather than face house arrest or community service if a court upholds his conviction for tax fraud next week.

Italy’s highest criminal court has defended its decision to bring forward former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s tax fraud appeal saying it had to move quickly before the statute of limitations expired.

Silvio Berlusconi’s lawyers and allies cried foul after Italy’s highest court set a remarkably quick July 30 hearing date for his tax fraud appeal

Prosecutors in Italy have called for a six-year prison sentence and a lifetime ban on holding public office for Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister charged with abuse of office and paying for sex with a minor.

An Italian court sentenced ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to one year in jail over the publication by his family’s newspaper of a transcript of a leaked wiretap connected to a banking scandal in 2006.

Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was briefly sentenced to four years in jail for tax fraud, and was banned from holding public office for five years.

Former premier Silvio Berlusconi, who has been convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to four years in prison, has condemned the convictions as "unreal".

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been handed a four-year sentence after being convicted of tax evasion by a Milan court.

Inter Milan boss Claudio Ranieri has denied that Diego Forlan refused to come on as a substitute during his side’s goalless home draw with Atalanta yesterday.

The captain of a cruise liner that ran aground and capsized off the Tuscan coast faced accusations from authorities and passengers that he abandoned ship before everyone was safely evacuated and was showing off when he steered the vessel far too close to shore.

SILVIO BERLUSCONI dominated Italy for 17 years with a unique mix of political talent and brazen behaviour but in the end it was market pressure from abroad that brought him down.

ITALIAN prime minister Silvio Berlusconi made a rare appearance in open court but left after two hours, saying the hearing at his tax fraud trial was a waste of time and accused prosecutors of having no case against him.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi made a rare appearance in open court at one of his four current trials today, but left soon after claiming the case was a waste of time.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi made a rare court appearance today at his trial on a tax fraud charge.

ITALIAN prime minister Silvio Berlusconi made a rare court appearance yesterday, greeting throngs of supporters gathered outside the courthouse following a closed-door hearing in a tax fraud case he has dismissed as groundless.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi made a rare court appearance today, greeting supporters who gathered outside a closed-door hearing in a tax fraud case.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi branded a tax fraud case against him “ridiculous” ahead of a court hearing in Milan.

PREMIER Silvio Berlusconi has gone back on trial for alleged tax fraud in the first of several court cases to resume after Italy’s constitutional court watered down an immunity bill sparing the premier from trial.

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi rang a TV show discussing his alleged prostitution scandal, exchanged insults with the host and said the programme was like a “brothel”.

Silvio Berlusconi and the Moroccan teenager at the centre of an underage prostitution probe targeting the Italian premier have denied any sexual contact in separate comments.

ITALIAN premier Silvio Berlusconi’s immunity from prosecution in two unfinished court cases could be overturned by a judicial hearing that opened yesterday.

Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi’s immunity from prosecution in two unfinished court cases could be overturned by a judicial hearing that opened today.

Italy striker Mario Balotelli has admitted he is growing weary of hearing racist abuse when playing football.

ITALIAN Premier Silvio Berlusconi yesterday dismissed as “media trash” reports that two television executives helped introduce an underage girl into his entourage.

A man convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has written a letter implicating his co-defendants and denying he ever said they had nothing to do with the murder.

ITALIAN premier Silvio Berlusconi did not attend a hearing yesterday in a case accusing him of bribing a British lawyer to lie in evidence.

Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi did not attend a hearing today in a case accusing him of bribing a British lawyer to lie in evidence.

THE tax fraud trial of Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi reopened yesterday after a year but was immediately adjourned to January.

The tax fraud trial of Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi reopened today after a year but was immediately adjourned to January.

Politicians supporting Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi hope to bring in new laws that could cut short his pending trials on tax fraud and corruption, it emerged today.

Italy’s magistrates staged courtroom protests across the country today over premier Silvio Berlusconi’s latest attack on prosecutors and judges.

A DEFIANT Berlusconi, already weakened by a sex scandal, has vowed to stay despite the ruling by the constitutional court, which he called a political organ.

ITALY’S Silvio Berlusconi faced a day of reckoning yesterday as the Constitutional Court began mulling whether to strip him of immunity from prosecution on pending corruption charges.

ITALIAN Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is launching legal actions against media in Italy and abroad, including Britain, France and Spain, for libel in their coverage of his private life, his lawyer has said.

ITALIAN prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, facing demands to explain his relationship with a teenage girl, denied yesterday he had had a “steamy affair” and said he would have to resign if caught lying about it.

Adriano’s agent flew into Italy today for talks with Inter Milan over the troubled Brazil striker.

Manchester City were today continuing their pursuit of Kaka with the player’s spokesperson admitting it was “not impossible” a £100m deal could still be done for the AC Milan superstar.

Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho insists he wants to see out the rest of his contract at the San Siro.

Shares in broadcaster ITV jumped today after the boss of Big Brother producer Endemol refused to rule out a possible takeover bid for the company.

ITALIAN police burst into the room of a suspected Mafia mobster in Sicily and arrested him as he watched a television show about the arrest of a Mafia boss.

The long-running saga of legal action against former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi flickered into life again today.