'Playful' Berlo defends lifestyle

Berlusconi admitted that he intervened to secure the release from police custody of a Moroccan girl, 17, who had previously been at his villa. He denied that he had done anything inappropriate in securing the release of the girl, a runaway whose nickname is Ruby, and he scoffed at news reports that portrayed their interaction as improper.

The disclosure comes at a difficult time for Berlusconi, 74, who is grappling with street protests in Naples over his failure to resolve a trash crisis, a weakened government coalition and his declining popularity in the polls.

Berlusconi insisted that he was proud of his lifestyle, which has come under scrutiny over accusations that he has had dalliances with young women, as well as an encounter with a prostitute that became public last year.

Without citing sources,  several Italian newspapers have reported that Ruby told prosecutors she attended dinners at Berlusconi’s villa in Arcore, outside Milan, although she denied having sex with the premier. Berlusconi has dismissed the scandal as “media trash.”

“I’ve got nothing to clarify,” Berlusconi said on Friday. “I’m a playful person, full of life. I love life, I love women.”“Nobody can make me, at my age, change my lifestyle, of which I am absolutely proud,” he told reporters in Brussels.