Italy

Stories 961 - 980 | << Prev   Next >>

Want to Bum a Smoke? Whisper in Their Right Ear

(Newser) - People prefer to listen with their right ears and are more giving when addressed from that side, LiveScience reports. An Italian study conducted in nightclubs shows that almost three-quarters of people observed listen with their right ear. Moreover, the researchers cadged significantly more cigarettes when they approached clubgoers on the...

Berlusconi: I Don't Even Like Hookers

Italian PM denies scandal, says call girls aren't to his taste

(Newser) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has denied that he paid prostitutes who attended parties at his official residences, reports the BBC. Berlusconi told a gossip magazine that the call girl who alleged she was paid over $1000 to sleep with him was "extremely well paid" by a political opponent...

Berlusconi Hooker Probe to Quiz 30 Women

Italian PM allegedly told woman to 'wait for me in the big bed'

(Newser) - Italian prosecutors are preparing to question up to 30 women, including eastern European models, as part of a probe into the alleged procurement of prostitutes for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The sex scandal widened yesterday when a photo emerged of two young women in short dresses posing in what appears...

Berlusconi Gave Me $14K 'Present': Escort

Scandal ramps up as hostess also says PM had sex with hooker

(Newser) - Silvio Berlusconi is facing further pressure to resign after a 23-year-old revealed she had received a $14,000 "present" from the Italian PM after attending a party, reports the Times of London. The woman also says that Patrizia D'Addario, the escort at the center of the growing prostitution scandal,...

Knox, Murdered Roommate 'Got Along Great': Knox Mom

(Newser) - Amanda Knox’s mother testified today that her daughter and Meredith Kercher, the British student she is accused of killing, were on good terms before the murder, the Times of London reports. Contrary to earlier testimony about tensions, the roommates “got along great,” Edda Mellas said at the...

$134B Bond Fraud May Be Mob Handiwork

US, Italian authorities blame organized crime for huge counterfeiting

(Newser) - The counterfeit bonds with a face value of $134 billion seized near the Swiss border are probably the work of the Mafia, say Italian and American secret services. The mystery surrounding the suitcase stuffed with fake US Treasury bonds deepened yesterday, after a blog revealed that police had released the...

Showgirl: I've Got Berlusconi Bedroom Tapes

She gives photos, audio recordings to prosecutors

(Newser) - A showgirl who says she was paid to party with Silvio Berlusconi says she’s got photos of herself and the Italian PM in his bedroom, the Times of London reports. Patrizia D'Addario says she also gave audio tapes to prosecutors with Berlusconi's voice, and videotaped herself in the room...

Berlusconi Faces Prostitution Probe

Showgirl: I was paid to go to PM's party

(Newser) - Already in hot water for connections to an 18-year-old model, a “mock marriage,” and a party with topless women, Silvio Berlusconi is now facing a probe into allegations over whether he paid showgirls to attend parties at the Italian PM's residences, the Times of London reports. An inquiry...

$134B in Bonds Seized in Italy 'Clearly Fake'

US debt office tells conspiracy theorists to calm down

(Newser) - Conspiracy theorists, take note: The US bonds seized near the Swiss border with a face value of $134 billion "are clearly fakes," a Washington spokesman tells Bloomberg. Most securities are now issued electronically, only about $105 billion in bonds have yet to be surrendered, and the "Kennedy...

$134B Suitcase Could Be Huge Smuggling Scam
$134B Suitcase Could Be Huge Smuggling Scam
OPINION

$134B Suitcase Could Be Huge Smuggling Scam

Italy arrests men with enough US bonds to buy a few countries

(Newser) - Last week, Italian authorities detained two Japanese men attempting to cross the border into Switzerland carrying a suitcase stuffed with $134 billion in US bonds. The men are either massive counterfeiters or—even scarier—the fourth-largest creditors of the US Treasury, with enough cash to buy three or four countries....

Italy to Take 3 Gitmo Detainees
 Italy to Take 3 Gitmo Detainees 

Italy to Take 3 Gitmo Detainees

Obama, Berlusconi discuss range of issues

(Newser) - Silvio Berlusconi, seeking to restore some shine to his tattered international image, yesterday agreed to take three detainees from Guantanamo Bay. The Italian PM praised President Obama for his "deep knowledge" after a 2-hour-plus meeting at the White House, the AP reports. The leaders discussed topics ranging from...

Knox on Roomie's Murder: 'Yucky, Disgusting'

Says she's trying to 'get on with my life'

(Newser) - Amanda Knox said in continuing testimony yesterday that she imagined her housemate’s murder as “shocking, yucky, disgusting,” the Times of London reports. Asked why she said Meredith Kercher must have died slowly, Knox said: “I heard that she had her throat slit, and from what I...

Police Threatened Me With Jail: Knox

(Newser) - Amanda Knox returned to the stand for the second day today with a familiar theme: Italian police abused her—verbally and sometimes physically—so much that she became confused about events the night Meredith Kercher was killed. She said police threatened her with serious jail time if she didn’t...

Smugglers Caught Sneaking $134B in Bonds Out of Italy

(Newser) - Two Japanese citizens were detained last week after allegedly trying to take $134 billion in undeclared US bonds from Italy to Switzerland, Bloomberg reports. Both countries are investigating the incident. “Italian authorities are in the midst of the investigation, and haven’t yet confirmed the details, including whether they...

Cops Beat Me, Knox Testifies
Cops Beat Me, Knox Testifies 

Cops Beat Me, Knox Testifies

Police have denied misconduct

(Newser) - Amanda Knox, the American student accused of killing her British roommate while studying in Italy, says the police beat her during questioning, the AP reports. "Everything that I said was said in confusion and under pressure," Knox testified today. Knox also maintained that she spent the night of...

Knox to Take Stand Today
 Knox to Take Stand Today 

Knox to Take Stand Today

5 months in, American student given chance to answer murder accusation

(Newser) - Amanda Knox is expected to testify in her murder trial for the first time today, the Guardian reports. The American student, accused of murdering flatmate Meredith Kercher during a violent, drug-fueled sex game, has been on trial in Italy since January and faces a possible life sentence if found guilty....

Rogue Prosecutor Targets Knox
Rogue Prosecutor Targets Knox
OPINION

Rogue Prosecutor Targets Knox

'Railroad job' of a case lacks clear-cut evidence, motive

(Newser) - With “flawed and flimsy” evidence and “no motive,” the murder trial of Amanda Knox seems more about a prosecutor’s ambitions than any likelihood the American student actually killed her housemate, Timothy Egan writes in the New York Times. “Any fair-minded jury would have thrown” the...

Bono Charity Rips Italy, France for Stiffing Africa

Anti-poverty group says broken aid promise should cost Italy right to host G8 summit

(Newser) - An anti-poverty group founded by Bono has issued a report harshly condemning France and Italy for reneging on promises to boost aid to Africa, the BBC reports. The report from the organization One called France's performance "disappointing" and Italy's an "utter failure," which has dragged down...

Amid Thaw, Gadhafi Visits Italy for 1st Time

Libyan leader will meet Berlusconi, 700 most powerful women

(Newser) - Today marks the start of Moammar Gadhafi’s first visit to Italy since he took over Libya in 1969—and the trip “promises to be as colorful as it is historic,” notes Richard Owen in the Times of London. That’s thanks in part to his 300-member entourage...

US to Return $10M Stolen Art Stash to Italy

'Treasure trove' of looted antiques uncovered in Chicago home

(Newser) - A huge stash of stolen artifacts found in a Chicago home will be returned to Italy by US authorities, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The artifacts—including letters written by kings and popes, and Etruscan works thousands of years old—were discovered by the homeowner's heirs after his death, and are...

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