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Berlusconi's Bunga-Bunga Strippers Dressed Up as Barack Obama, Says Bellydancer Ruby Silvio Berlusconi's infamous "bunga-bunga" parties featured strippers dressed as US President Obama as well as the more conventional fare of nuns and nurses, according to court testimony by the Moroccan woman at the centre of the scandal. Karima el-Mahroug, 20, was giving evidence at the trial of three former aides to Berlusconi who are accused of procuring her and other women for prostitution. El-Mahroug, a former bellydancer, said she attended about half a dozen parties, using her nickname Ruby. One each occasion, Berlusconi had handed her an envelope containing...

Silvio Berlusconi is down and humiliated after a court found him guilty in a massive tax evasion case, but he is too wily to be out of Italian politics. … He was sentenced three times to a total of six years and five months in prison in the late 1990s for corruption, forgery and illegal party financing. But the sentences were either dismissed on appeal or timed out under the statute of limitations. … He will draw succor from a fiercely loyal band of parliamentary allies who, incredibly, advised him to shrug off the conviction, seize back the leadership of...

Fast developing story out of Rome. No details yet, but you can check it out on the Drudge Report.

The phrase "bunga bunga" has become inextricably linked with the private life of Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, and for those who have puzzled over its origins an intriguing new explanation of its meaning has been offered.The comical-sounding phrase made its first appearance back in October, when 17-year-old Moroccan belly dancer Karima El Mahroug - who calls herself Ruby - said she had attended "bunga bunga" parties with other women at Mr Berlusconi's villa in Milan. Italian newspapers immediately scrambled to find out its origins. The finger of blame was initially laid upon Mr Berlusconi's friend Col Muammar Gaddafi, with allegations of...