London, Aug 19 : Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has barred mafia bosses from singing in prison, after they used songs to pass criminal messages to each other.

In addition to putting a ban on singing, the inmates have also been barred from socialising with fellow inmates, according to Justice minister Angelino Alfano.

In a bid to tighten the security visits from family, friends and lawyers have also been curtailed in the ten prisons that house 570 convicted dangerous mobsters

Rome  - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi drew criticism Monday from opposition leaders for what they said was his failure to condemn outright Russia's military intervention in Georgia.

"A phone call is not enough," said the Catholic centrist party UDC's leader Pierferdinando Casini, referring to Berlusconi's conversation with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Sunday.

Berlusconi phoned Putin from his Sardinian villa, a luxury holiday residence where the billionaire-turned-politician has hosted the Russian leader in the past.

London, Aug 11 : Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s song-writing partner, folk singer Mariano Apicella, has asked him to take time off from running the country, so that the former could focus on their new CD of love ballads.

The album, which is a fourth for Berlusconi with Apicella, is expected to be be completed for a Christmas launch.

However, work on it has been going very slowly.

"The disc is still up in the air. The premier told me that he''s having trouble finding the time to finish it with me,” the Telegraph quoted Apicella as saying.

London, Aug. 8 : Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi apparently is not too bothered about the credit crunch woes of his fellow Italians, for he has gone ahead and purchased a neo-classical villa at Lesa on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy.

According to The Times, 71-year-old Berlusconi already owns a mansion in Milan - which he is expanding - luxury seaside villas in Sardinia and Bermuda, and a Renaissance palace in Rome, among other properties. The family that launched the Campari drinks empire formerly owned the latest buy.

London, Aug 4 : Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is at the centre of media scrutiny over a painting in his house that shows the nude breast of a female figure.

The Italian press accused him of Victorian prudery after noticing the skin show in a reproduction of a painting by Giampbattista Tiepolo at Palazzo Chigi, the Prime Minister’s residence

Titled ‘Truth Revealed by Time’, the painting was chosen by Berlusconi as the backdrop for his press conferences at Palazzo Chigi after he took office for the third time in May.

But, the assets of the female figure in the painting had been mysteriously draped in a gauze tunic, which, according to La Stampa, had been applied digitally.