With Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in the news for his questionable sexual exploits and treatment of women, I thought I'd put together a little profile of the other aspects of the man. With a total net worth of more than $9 billion, Berlusconi is the 72nd richest man in the world. Italy's version of Rupert Murdoch, the right-leaning Berlusconi's media empire covers more than half the national television market and a significant segment of the newspaper industry. He is the owner of the all-time winningest football club AC Milan. Bff's with former American President George W Bush, in a telling incident during a 2008 state dinner, Berlusconi tripped over a microphone cable, crumbled the podium in an excited rush to embrace W. Then declared in Italian "Did you see what a huge love can do?" He's made several insensitive, borderline racist comments toward African Americans, including US President Obama, whom he's complimented several times on his "suntan". On 24 January 2009, Berlusconi announced his aim to enhance the numbers of armed military patrolling Italian cities from 3000 to 30000 to fight crime. He didn't elaborate on why soldiers were preferable to an increase in the police force. On May 3, his wife, Veronica Lario, announced she was filing for divorce following her husband's attendance at a girl's 18th birthday party in Casoria, Naples. She claimed that Berlusconi had not attended his own sons' 18th birthday parties, and that she "cannot remain with a man ...
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