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.

THE approval rating of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has been dogged by a messy divorce and accusations of cavorting with teenage girls and escorts, has fallen below 50% for the first time.

ITALIAN Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday said photos in a Spanish newspaper of topless women sunbathing at his seaside villa were an invasion of privacy and his lawyer said he would take legal action.

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

Former Italian premiere Silvio Berlusconi has been cleared in a Milan corruption case, news reports said today.

Lawyers for Silvio Berlusconi have asked Italy’s top court to overturn a ruling to keep the main judge hearing the trial of the former premier and the estranged husband of British Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell.

Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and the estranged husband of British Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, David Mills, were today ordered to stand trial on charges of false accounting, embezzlement and tax fraud in the purchase of TV rights for US movies, his lawyer said.

Centre-left leader Romano Prodi said today he intends to govern Italy for the full five years of Parliament’s term, and said Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s refusal to acknowledge that Prodi won the elections is “not my problem, it is his.”

Italian prosecutors have concluded an investigation into whether Premier Silvio Berlusconi bribed British lawyer David Mills to give false testimony and they intend to seek his indictment on corruption charges, Italian newspapers said today.

A judge in Milan held an opening hearing today on a request by prosecutors to indict Premier Silvio Berlusconi on charges of false accounting, tax fraud and embezzlement.

A MILAN court yesterday acquitted Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi of corruption charges - a major victory in the billionaire business baron’s decade-long battle with legal woes he blamed on left-wing prosecutors.

A Milan court today acquitted Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi of corruption charges – a major victory in the billionaire business baron’s decade-long battle with legal woes he blamed on left-wing prosecutors.