Berlusconi in diet challenge

Italy’s image-conscious leader Silvio Berlusconi, who has undergone a face lift and a hair transplant since becoming premier, has begun a diet.

“From today I am on a diet,” Berlusconi told reporters on Wednesday, news agencies ANSA and Apcom reported.

The 68-year-old premier said he made a bet with a fellow MP from his Forza Italia party that he could lose 11 pounds within a month.

Berlusconi, a media baron who is Italy’s richest man, emerged from a month-long absence last year and announced he had undergone plastic surgery around the eyes.

Months later Berlusconi confirmed rumours he had also undergone a hair transplant, and said he was pleased with the results.

“When I look at myself in the mirror, I must feel that my looks on the outside correspond to my youth on the inside, which is absolute,” he told reporters in December.