Berlusconi digs in heels despite sex probe

ROME - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi accused magistrates on Saturday of illegally spying on him as he refused to appear before prosecutors who allege that he had sex with an underage prostitute.

As the opposition urged him to resign over the latest sex scandal, Berlusconi said he had no intention of stepping down, keeping up his offensive against magistrates he says are biased and bent on trying to oust him from power.

"I am not running away and I am not resigning," Berlusconi said in a phone call to a meeting of his People of Freedom party. "I am defending myself and reacting to what is truly an attempt to subvert the will of voters," he said.