November 19, 2008	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 20, 1429

TRIESTE (Italy), Nov 18: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi played “hide and seek” on visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday, hiding behind a column when she went to meet him for a brief Italo-German summit in Trieste.

Video footage of the gag shows the German entourage advancing towards their official reception and Berlusconi hiding behind a large column.

Reporters on the scene said he called out “coo-coo!” Merkel turned to him, laughed and said “Silvio!” and they embraced.

The 72-year-old Italian leader has a history of practical jokes, like holding up two fingers behind the head of a Spanish minister in the sign of a cuckold at a summit.

Berlusconi is also prone to gaffes, such as when he boasted of using his “playboy” tactics on Finland's woman president or, more recently, praised US President-elect Barack Obama for being “handsome, young and also suntanned”.

Berlusconi's latest prank appeared to have gone down better with Merkel than US President George Bush's attempt in 2006 to massage her neck at a summit. Merkel raised her shoulders in surprise and the video became a hit on the Internet.

—Reuters