Austrian high society is aghast after it was announced that the 18-year-old Moroccan prostitute with whom Silvio Berlusconi is alleged to have slept, Ruby the Heart

Stealer, has been invited to attend Vienna's most prestigious ball.

A woman who delights in the name Desiree Treichl-Sturgkh, and organises the city's annual state opera ball, said it was "sad, humiliating and disrespectful" that Ruby, real name Karima El Mahroug, was to attend this year's posh knees-up.

Mahroug, and her 41-year-old boyfriend and employer, club owner Luca Risso, are attending as guests of wealthy Austrian businessman Richard Lugner. An eccentric and flamboyant figure, Lugner makes a habit of inviting beautiful women to attend the event - and lend publicity to his family's malls and other business interests.

A 78-year-old retired construction mogul to whom a top hat lends an alarming air of Batman's old nemesis, The Penguin, Lugner has been photographed at the ball drooling over lucky ladies including Andie McDowell, Sophia Loren, Paris Hilton and Dita Von Teese.

His current girlfriend (above, with Lugner), more than forty years his junior, is a model known as 'Bambi' - not so much a woman in her own right as a life-support system for a pair of breasts, to quote Kathy Lette.

You shall go to the ball, Ruby the Heart Stealer

Silvio Berlusconi went back on trial yesterday in the first of four court cases that will train an intense spotlight on his private life and business practices.

The Prime Minister was not expected to be present at the resumption of the trial in which he and several executives of his Mediaset television group are accused of tax fraud. The accused deny any wrongdoing.

The trial, and another in which he is a defendant, were suspended last year because of a law passed by the government providing him and others with immunity from prosecution while in office. Key aspects of the law were overturned on January 13, opening the way for the resumption of both cases.

In the second, which is due to resume on March 11, he is accused of paying the British lawyer David Mills, estranged husband of the former British Labour minister Tessa Jowell, a $US600,000 bribe to withhold testimony.

Fraud and bribery trials return to add to Berlusconi's woes

meanwhile, back at the London branch .....

The Duke of York should be sacked as a British trade ambassador, a senior UK MP says.

Shadow justice minister Chris Bryant claimed Andrew had close links to Saif Gaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Prime Minister David Cameron said he would "look into" the connections between the Libyan regime and Andrew.

Mr Bryant's demand follows a series of recent controversies involving the Duke, including being photographed walking in a park with a convicted sex offender.

The Duke has also been criticised for selling his former home, Sunninghill Park - a wedding present from the Queen - for £15 million ($23.8 million), £3 million above the asking price, to a Kazakh with whom he had business dealings.

Prince Andrew should be sacked, demands MP

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has rejected "shocking accusations" from an inquiry linking him to an alleged prostitution ring, saying women only came to dine and dance at his house.

"I can't believe that the justice system is being used in such a barbaric way and so far from reality," Berlusconi said in an interview with La Repubblica issued on Wednesday, a day after details of the inquiry were leaked.

"They were cheerful, elegant dinners. The women went for a little dance in the disco ... on their own because I've never liked dancing," Berlusconi said.

"I will go on television to explain everything - to defend myself and defend these women. And I will take part in all my trial hearings," he said.

Prosecutors investigating three Berlusconi associates for allegedly hiring prostitutes for the prime minister found the Italian leader allegedly had sex 13 times with a then 17-year-old starlet known as Ruby the Heart Stealer.

The inquiry documents, which were published by Italian media, also said 33 women, including Ruby, were involved and it detailed orgies at his home near Milan in which women "touched or were touched intimately by Silvio Berlusconi".

Berlusconi rejects 'shocking' sex claims