Tag Archives: italian

Snap! Photos of Nude Partygoers Add to Berlusconi’s Woes

Is there a link between Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s hold on political power inside Italy and his hold over the wider scandal-craved collective imagination of our contemporary culture? Clues to that question may be found in a series of blurry photographs that have wound up on the front page of the respected Spanish daily El País. The five photos show scenes of poolside nudity and seminudity inside the walls of the Prime Minister’s private villa on the island of Sardinia, as well as images of a Berlusconi walking in the company of several different women.

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Fawcett tells Candy Spelling: ‘I’m going to be alright’

Farrah Fawcett, the actress known worldwide for her beauty and her role on "Charlie’s Angels," is reportedly seriously ill and may be close to death after a long battle with cancer. The two are closely tied to a Brussels-based al Qaeda recruiting network, Belgian counter-terrorism officials have told CNN. They are Bassam Ayachi, 62, and Raphael Gendron, 33 — and they were detained in the port of Bari on November 11 last year after allegedly trying to smuggle three Palestinians and two Syrians into Italy in the false bottom of a camper van they were driving

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Star cyclists failed Beijing doping tests

Leading cyclist Davide Rebellin tested positive for doping at the Beijing Games, the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) told CNN on Wednesday. Rebellin, who won silver in the road race in China, has been suspended from all competition, a spokesman said. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) revealed on Tuesday that six athletes had given positive results as samples taken at the Beijing Games were re-tested for a more advanced strain of the blood-boosting hormone CERA.

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Fighting Piracy: Coordinated Action Still Missing

If Europe occasionally winces at accusations that it is not pulling its weight in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan against the Taliban, it has been prouder of its take-charge role in combating Somalia’s relentless pirates. However, much like the Afghan war, that effort appears to be floundering in the face of a relentless, quickly adapting and resurgent enemy — despite successes like Sunday’s dramatic rescue of Richard Phillips, the American ship captain held hostage since Wednesday by defiant Somali pirates

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At least 150 killed in Italian earthquake, officials say

Rescuers worked into the early morning hours Tuesday in hopes of finding survivors of a powerful earthquake that ripped through Italy’s mountainous Abruzzo region, killing scores of people and leaving tens of thousands homeless. Tearful survivors, many of them clad in pajamas and blankets, watched as bodies were pulled from the rubble in the medieval city of L’Aquila, about 120 km (75 miles) northeast of Rome. The quake killed more than 150 people, L’Aquila’s fire department said late Monday.

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Desperation, smuggling the backdrop to migrant tragedy

Desperation, sophisticated smuggling operations and the emergence of a small Italian island as a migrant destination provide the sad backdrop to Monday’s tragedy on the Mediterranean Sea — the capsizing of boats carrying African migrants from Libya to Italy. Jean-Philippe Chauzy, spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, said Tuesday that Libya for years has been a destination for migrants from the rest of Africa.

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