Berlusconi again defends record as scandal mounts

ROME: Premier Silvio Berlusconi has again denounced Milan prosecutors who are investigating whether he paid for sex with a 17-year-old runaway, saying he deserves to be premier and will fight to remain so "in the interest of the country."

An increasingly irritated Berlusconi issued his third video-message in two weeks to try to stem the damage from daily leaks in Italian newspapers of wiretapped phone conversations of women who partied at his house and chatted about it afterward.

On Friday, his message was that prosecutors were trying to undo the will of Italian voters. He said such firestorms don't scare him and that, on the contrary, the bigger they are the more convinced he is that he's acting in the interest of all Italians.

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