Beijing Protests Berlusconi Baby Comments

By MARIA SANMINIATELLI, Associated Press Writer
Tue Mar 28, 5:11 PM ET

ROME - Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said communists in Mao's China boiled babies for fertilizer, prompting Beijing to express "strong indignation" Tuesday over the comments.

Italy's Foreign Ministry, seeking to limit the damage, said the premier's words were a reference to "episodes that took place in the past," and stressed that Berlusconi did not intend to stoke tension with China.

Berlusconi, who is running in an April 9-10 election against center-left leader Romano Prodi, has a history of getting into trouble for speaking his mind. In 2003, he told a German lawmaker in the European Parliament that he should appear in a movie as a Nazi concentration camp guard.

The conservative premier, who has made a habit of lashing out against communism, made the latest comments Sunday at an election rally in Naples.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060328/ap_on_re_eu/italy_china_babies_1
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Berlusconi is Italy's GWB + ability to speak