Berlusconi draws heat on 'baby boiling' claim

China has hit back at Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi after he claimed in a recent campaign rally that China "boiled babies for fertilizer in Mao's (Zedong) era." Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang asked the Italian leader, who is running in an April election, to pay attention to his words and actions during a regular news conference in Beijing on Thursday. Italian opposition politicians said Berlusconi's comments proved he was unsuitable to represent Italy at the highest levels, but Berlusconi refused to apologize or retract his statement, claiming he had used irony when referring to the babies.