Ex-Italian prime minister Berlusconi hospitalized for heart problem

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been hospitalized for heart-related problems.
The 79-year-old has been taken to the San Raffaele Hospital in his birth city of Milan, the hospital's press office told CNN Monday, giving no details on his condition.
Berlusconi has led the country as prime minister three times, most recently in 2011. During one term, he resigned but was sworn back in three days later.
The leader has had ongoing heart problems, including a fainting episode while delivering a speech in 2006. He had a pacemaker fitted soon after and has also been treated for prostate cancer.
A former cruise-ship crooner turned media tycoon and politician, Berlusconi is one of the most colorful and controversial figures in the lively history of Italian politics. He has for years been in and out of Italian courts, entangled in fraud, corruption and sex scandals.
Berlusconi was accused of paying for sex with a teenager during "bunga bunga" sex parties at his luxurious Milan home in 2010, when he served as prime minister.
The woman, Karima El Mahroug, was a former nightclub dancer known best by her stage name "Ruby the Heartstealer." Berlusconi was convicted for sex with a minor and abuse of power, but a court later overturned the convictions.
Forbes ranks Berlusconi 188th on its list of the world's billionaires, with a net worth of $6.2 billion.

His business empire owns football club AC Milan. He is reportedly trying to sell his majority stake in the club to a Chinese consortium.
Berlusconi had been banned from voting in elections after a conviction for tax evasion that ordered him to perform a year's community service in a home for the elderly.

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