Premier Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday said the three greatest evils facing Italy were criminals, magistrates and journalists.
''I've always said that for me there are three categories that do evil: criminals, public prosecutors and dentists. But since dentists now use injection to anaesthetize... I put journalists in their place,'' he told an assembly of national retail services association Confesercenti.
He singled out ''certain journalists'' especially, saying ''look (at the newspapers) in recent days'', referring to coverage by national and international papers over rumours about his relationship with an 18-year-old girl whose birthday party he attended.
The premier hit out at criticism by some foreign failies, saying this proved they were ''lackies of the Italian Left''.
In turning round an observation by the Financial Times on Wednesday that one of the differences between Berlusconi and dictator Benito Mussolini was that ''he has squads of starlets, not of Blackshirts,'' the premier replied ''thank God (I have starlets), they're better, much better''.
The premier received several whistles and boos when he spoke of left-wing ''subversive clots'' in the justice system as the reason why his government pushed through a law giving immunity from prosecution while in office to Italy's top four institutional figures, but Berlusconi brushed these off.
''There are just four or five of you whistling, 10-15 at the most. You're statistically irrelevant,'' he said.
He pledged ''not to quit politics'' until he had overhauled the justice system, ''because only then will a citizen be able to have a fair trial''.
The premier has repeatedly claimed he is the victim of a witch-hunt by an allegedly leftist judiciary and was booed in June last year when he described the magistrature as ''a cancer in our democracy'', also during an address to Confesercenti.
Berlusconi, who has been in power for almost eight of the last 15 years, has been convicted in several corruption cases relating to his business empire but the sentences have always been overturned on appeal or annulled by a new shortened statute of limitations.
IMMIGRATION POLICY 'NOT ANTI-HUMANITARIAN'.
The premier meanwhile also hit out at criticism that Italy's new policy of returning illegal immigrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Libya is anti-humanitarian.
''There's nothing non-humanitarian in it,'' he said.
''Extremely precarious boats are pinpointed, the illegal immigrants are given something to eat and then they are taken back to Libya''.
Berlusconi blamed the influx of illegal immigrants on the former centre-left government.
''This has happened because the former government gave the impression to the eastern and African countries that our frontiers were open. We will no longer tolerate this immigration and we are prepared to accept into Italy those who have jobs and not those who are forced to resort to crime to live,'' he said.
On the basis of an accord with Tripoli, Italy has sent back to Libya nearly 500 would-be migrants since the launch of its controversial new policy on May 6, despite criticism from the UN, the Catholic Church and humanitarian organisations.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has claimed the new policy is a success, with the arrival of large boats from the North African coast ceasing almost entirely.
HOUSES FOR QUAKE SURVIVORS 'READY BY SEPTEMBER'.
The premier also talked about the quake-hit Abruzzo capital of L'Aquila, which is due to become the focus of international attention when it hosts the Group of Eight summit in July.
Berlusconi has been working hard to keep damage caused by the April 6 quake in the spotlight, moving the G8 summit to the stricken city from its original venue on the Sardinian island of La Maddalena.
On Thursday he said that houses for 3,000 people left homeless by quake in L'Aquila and surrounding villages will be ready by mid September.
''Today 63,000 people are not in their homes,'' he told the national retail services' association Confesercenti, referring to those being accommodated in tent camps and other temporary accommodation.
''Some 53% of houses are inhabitable but people don't have the courage to return because the wave of aftershocks continues, and nobody has the courage to push them into doing so,'' he said.
''We've suggested to people still in tents that they go and have a holiday by the sea,'' where the government would house them in hotels, ''because we don't want anyone still in tents in the summer''.
The premier said the final houses would be made available to earthquake survivors ''by the end of November, before it starts getting cold''.
On Friday Berlusconi is scheduled to reopen ''65%'' of L'Aquila's hospital, which failed to hold up to the quake despite being theoretically quake proof.
He will also present university degrees and school certificates to the families of some of the students killed in the quake, which claimed nearly 300 lives.
Abruzzo Governor Gianni Chiodi said Thursday the region and the government had agreed to an investment package for infrastructure and to relaunch economic development worth six billion euros, 1.7 of which could be spent in the next three years.
Minor seismic activity in the region has continued since the main earthquake, with the most recent quake recorded on Wednesday between L'Aquila and Rome and measuring 2.1 on the Richter scale.
