Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi today dismissed calls to resign over his involvement with a runaway under-age Moroccan girl and created new uproar by claiming it was better to love beautiful girls than gays.

The Italian government was ordered to pay nearly €100,000 to a gay man who received a driver’s licence for the disabled after he volunteered information on his sexual orientation to military authorities, the man and a gay-rights group said today.

POPE Benedict XVI is likely to be even more strict than his predecessor, John Paul II, on questions regarding the use of condoms to prevent the spread of Aids, gay rights activists said.