Berlusconi hospitalized with inflamed knee

MILAN (AP) — Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has been hospitalized with an inflamed knee.

The Corriere della Sera daily reported Friday the 77-year-old Berlusconi was under observation at San Raffaele hospital in Milan, where he was treated last year for an eye inflammation. A Berlusconi aide confirmed the hospitalization, but declined additional comment.

Berlusconi was stripped of his Senate seat last year because of a tax fraud conviction, but he remains influential in politics as head of Forza Italia.

A hearing is set next week in Milan to determine how the tax fraud sentence, reduced from four years to one, will be served, including the possibility of house arrest or community service. Deliberations are expected to last several days.

Berlusconi's eye ailment last year forced delays in another criminal case against him.