Italy

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Right Wing Stokes Hatred of 'Euroweenies'

(Newser) - Europeans may have longer lives and longer vacations, but red-blooded Americans don't want their socialist ways on this side of the ocean, right wing media mouths are eager to remind everyone, MIchael Freedman writes in Newsweek. Underlying much of the opposition to health care reform is the fear that it's...

Italian Court: It's OK to Threaten Kids With Kick in the Pants

Man told nephew to scram or get the boot

(Newser) - There’s nothing wrong with telling teens they’ll get kicked in the pants for misbehaving—at least not in Italy, the country’s high court ruled today. A mom had accused her son’s uncle of abuse for issuing the warning, calling it a serious threat. But the court...

Berlusconi: Why the Sex Scandals Don't Hurt Him

(Newser) - Besieged Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is “a national joke,” Michael Wolff writes in Vanity Fair. He’s also immensely popular. In the midst of his most recent sex scandal, he and his party were handily reelected. What’s the deal? To begin with, “he controls his...

Thieves Steal $16M From Saudi Princess in Italy

(Newser) - Thieves made off with $16 million in cash and jewels from the safe of a Saudi princess in Sardinia, the BBC reports. Investigators believe the burglars used a master key to gain access to her room in a chic resort and rip the safe from the wall. The theft sparked...

Fear Saved Helicopter Mom
 Fear Saved Helicopter Mom 

Fear Saved Helicopter Mom

(Newser) - An Italian mom too frightened to take a helicopter tour of Manhattan saved her life—but lost most of her family as the copter collided with a plane over the Hudson River, reports the New York Daily News. Silvia Rigamonti got cold feet at the last minute. The tour was...

'I Told the Truth': Berlusconi's Call Girl

(Newser) - Silvio Berlusconi's antics with models and call girls have threatened to derail his government, but the woman at the center of the sex-and-corruption scandal says she's seen it all before. "This is how Italy always works," Patrizia D’Addario tells the Financial Times. The hooker says she came...

Daughter 'Astounded' by Berlusconi's Indiscretions

And says pols can't expect much private life

(Newser) - Silvio Berlusconi’s daughter says she was “astounded” by allegations that the Italian premier consorted with model Noemi Letizia before she turned 18, Bloomberg reports. “I never hung out with elderly men,” Barbara Berlusconi, 25 and the mom of two, tells the Italian edition of Vanity Fair....

Italy OKs RU-486; Vatican Threatens Excommunications

(Newser) - Italy has legalized the abortion drug RU-486, drawing the ire of the Vatican, which threatened to excommunicate doctors who prescribe the medication and women who take it. A church official said using the pill is "a sin in a moral and juridical sense," but a politician who is...

Swimmer Makes Ass of Himself
 Swimmer Makes Ass of Himself 

Swimmer Makes Ass of Himself

(Newser) - Champion US swimmer Ricky Berens got that sinking feeling when his high-tech suit split down the back an instant before he sailed into the water for his leg of a relay at the FINA Swimming World Championship in Rome. The result was a flash of muscly derrière transmitted on...

Ex-Hooker: Berlusconi Offered Me a Parliament Seat

Says he gave escorts acting, political roles

(Newser) - Patrizia D’Addario, the prostitute who brought the world what she says are audiotapes of her having sex with Silvio Belusconi, says the Italian PM offered her a seat in the European Parliament, the Times of London reports. He offered her the position in lieu of paying for sex, she...

Racy New Berlusconi Sex Tape Released

(Newser) - A newly released audio tape apparently captures Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in a graphic sexual conversation with a female escort, reports the Daily Telegraph. Two voices on the tape discuss orgasm and a just-ended satisfying sexual encounter, with the man recommending that the woman "touch" herself "often....

Italy Foils Sale of $18M Yachts to Dear Leader

(Newser) - Italian authorities believe they have torpedoed Kim Jong-Il's hopes of acquiring a pair of new luxury yachts, the Financial Times reports. The sale of the $18 million yachts, which would have violated international sanctions, was blocked after investigators traced the contract to North Korea. Authorities say they have no proof...

Berlusconi Admits He's 'No Saint'
Berlusconi Admits He's
'No Saint'

Berlusconi Admits He's 'No Saint'

Italian PM shrugs off call-girl scandal as 'low-level stuff'

(Newser) - Silvio Berlusconi appeared unconcerned about the recent disclosure of tapes of an alleged intimate conversation between him and a prostitute, the Telegraph reports. “There are a lot of pretty girls about. I am no saint but you know that,” the Italian PM said today in his first public...

Venice's First Lady Gondolier Makes a Splash

(Newser) - A 23-year-old mother of two has overcome a grueling entrance exam and 900 years of taboos to become the first female gondolier in Venetian history, the Los Angeles Times reports. Giorgia Boscolo's entry into the profession has caused waves among the city's close-knit fraternity of gondoliers, with some fearing she...

Italian Paper Releases 'Tapes' of Berlusconi Escort Tryst

Man instructs woman to wait 'in Putin's bed'

(Newser) - Silvio Berlusconi’s prostitution scandal flared anew today as Italian newspaper L’Espresso released audio recordings made by the woman who claims she was paid to attend a party with the Italian PM, the BBC reports. On the recordings, a voice said to be Berlusconi’s says: “I’m...

Pope Slips on Vacation, Breaks Wrist
Pope Slips
on Vacation, Breaks Wrist
updated

Pope Slips on Vacation, Breaks Wrist

Injury is 'nothing serious,' says pontiff spokesman

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI broke his wrist today after slipping and falling in his room during a vacation in the Italian Alps,  reports the New York Times. "It's nothing serious," said a Vatican spokesman. Benedict, who even celebrated Mass before going to the hospital by car, is expected...

Foxy Knoxy's Family Hurting Her Case

(Newser) - If Amanda Knox gets off for the murder of Meredith Kercher, it'll be despite her family—who have caused an uproar in Italy for appearing on the cover of a women's magazine. As Newsweek reports, one photo features Knox's two sisters, Deanna, 20, and Ashley, 14, posing in short shorts...

Novel Bouquet Toss Brings Down Plane in Italy

(Newser) - A wedding bouquet in Italy failed to predict the next bride-to-be, but it did succeed in downing a small plane, the Guardian reports. Hoping to spice up the proceedings, the wedding party entrusted the bouquet to a man who flew overhead in an ultra-light aircraft. When he attempted to cast...

Five Leaders Who Liked Bush Better
Five Leaders Who Liked Bush Better
analysis

Five Leaders Who Liked Bush Better

(Newser) - Not all foreign leaders prefer Barack Obama to George W. Bush. Joshua Keating of Foreign Policy lists five heads of state who probably miss Dubya:
  • Silvio Berlusconi. "The conservative Christian from Texas and the lecherous billionaire" were good buddies; Bush hosted the Italian president often at his ranch
...

Obama, Pope Hold 'Frank' Discussion at First Meeting

(Newser) - President Obama met with Pope Benedict for the first time today at the Vatican, the AP reports. The White House press secretary predicted a “frank discussion. I think that there's a lot that they agree on that they'll get a chance to discuss,” said Robert Gibbs. Though the...

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