Berlusconi battles back from brink in Italy

Berlusconi battles back from brink in Italy
FILE - In this Wednesday Dec. 1, 2010 file picture, Italy's Prime Minister... ROME (AP) - The Wikileaks cables have caused Silvio Berlusconi major embarrassment, with juicy gossip about hard partying and too-cozy ties to Russia. But the Italian premier has bigger problems on his hands than diplomatic indiscretions: In upcoming days he'll be fighting for his very political survival. The 74-year-old leader faces a no-confidence vote next week that will determine the fate of his government. Just w...

Berlusconi battles back from brink in Italy
Source: Associated Press Berlusconi battles back from brink in Italy By ALESSANDRA RIZZO The Associated Press Friday, December 10, 2010; 6:08 AM ROME -- The Wikileaks cables have caused Silvio Berlusconi major embarrassment, with juicy gossip about hard partying and too-cozy ties to Russia. But the Italian premier has bigger problems on his hands than diplomatic indiscretions: In upcoming days he'll be fighting for his very political survival. The 74-year-old leader faces a no-confidence vot...

Italy court delays hearing on Berlusconi trial law
ROME | Fri Dec 10, 2010 6:17am EST ROME (Reuters) - Italy's top court will postpone a hearing on a law that shields Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from trial from its scheduled date on Tuesday until January to avoid a clash with a crucial parliamentary vote. The change announced by Constitutional Court head Ugo De Siervo means that the hearing will not now take place on the same day as a confidence vote in parliament that could bring down Berlusconi's struggling center-right government. Spe...

Berlusconi, rivals dig in ahead of crucial vote
By Silvia Aloisi ROME | Thu Dec 9, 2010 3:03pm EST ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will not resign before next week's confidence vote as his rivals want, an aide said Thursday, playing down reports of behind-the-scenes negotiations between the two camps. Berlusconi faces a no-confidence motion on December 14 which would sink his government if he lost, and possibly lead to early Elections next spring. The 74-year-old prime minister, a media Billionaire, no longer enjo...

Silvio Berlusconi accused of buying MPs' votes
© Alessandro Di Meo/AFP/Getty Images Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi looking relaxed despite claims he has bought the support of MPs to ensure his government’s survival. The state prosecution service in Rome today opened an investigation into claims that Silvio Berlusconi was buying up MPs before a series of votes in parliament next Tuesday to decide on the future of his government. The move followed a sharp about-turn late last night when a leading member of Berlusconi's party, th...

Berlusconi's party accused of buying out opponents
Allegations that Controversial Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's party "bought" MPs prior to a crucial confidence vote are being investigated by prosecutors, it was confirmed yesterday. Mr Berlusconi, 74, needs his People of Freedom party to win or he faces going to the polls before a scheduled 2013 General Election, and the result is said to be balanced on a knife edge. The inquiry was opened after former magistrate Antonio Di P ADVERTISEMENT ietro, who is now head of the anti-corrup...

Berlusconi court hearing postponed
Italy's highest court is to postpone a hearing on a law that shields Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from trial from its scheduled date on Tuesday until January, to avoid a clash with a crucial parliamentary vote. The change means that the hearing will not now take place on the same day as a confidence vote that could bring down Mr Berlusconi's struggling centre-right government....

Euro Trashed
Dec 20, 2010, Vol. 16, No. 14 • By CHRISTOPHER CALDWELL Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. It has been easy to snicker in recent weeks at the politicians who designed the euro, which appears on the verge of collapse after a decade as the common currency of a dozen countries in the European Union. Last May, the continent’s Finance Ministers put together a $145-billion package to bail out the corrupt Greek state. When that failed to calm markets, a new trill...

Marco Ceglie: Leaked! Sec. Clinton's Hand-Edited Response Denouncing WikiLeaks
The latest "Cablegate" bombshell involves the original, hand-edited draft of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's statement lashing out at Wikileaks for their release of embarrassing Diplomatic cables. Check out The Other 98% for the full document. The final copy of Secretary Clinton's statement can be found here. ...

Norks in the jungle--Burma's secret nuke site
Image via Wikipedia Washington Post: A batch of leaked U.S. diplomatic cables released this week lend details to long-suspected nuclear cooperation between North Korea and Burma, suggesting that hundreds of North Koreans were at one point working at a covert Military site deep in the Burmese jungle. The cables from the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon, released Thursday by anti-secrecy Web site Wikileaks, are hardly definitive, citing accounts from dockworkers, foreign businessmen and other observers. ...

Clinton: US won't give up push for Mideast peace
WASHINGTON—Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton insists the U.S. will keep pressing Israel and the Palestinians to settle their stubborn differences even as she betrays frustration with the latest impasse. "When one way is blocked, we will seek another," she vowed in a Speech that nevertheless brought no new ideas to the table. The path the Obama Administration sought from the day it took office -- insisting that Israel freeze most settlement construction to pull the Palestinians int...

U.S. to push Mideast peace: Clinton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday that Washington would push Israeli and Palestinian leaders to solve the core issues standing in the way of peace, saying both must move forward despite a breakdown in U.S.-brokered direct negotiations. Clinton, saying she shared frustration over the impasse in peace talks, said the United States would launch a new round of indirect shuttle negotiations aimed at making real progress in the next few months toward a framework...

U.S. to push Mideast peace: Clinton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday that Washington would push Israeli and Palestinian leaders to solve the core issues standing in the way of peace, saying both must move forward despite a breakdown in U.S.-brokered direct negotiations. Clinton, saying she shared frustration over the impasse in peace talks, said the United States would launch a new round of indirect shuttle negotiations aimed at making real progress in the next few months toward a framework ...

Italy’s tottering government: Finished by Fini?
ITALIAN politics is seldom straightforward. But rarely has it been as confused as in the approach to a flurry of votes due in parliament on December 14th that could topple Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative government. This is not least because of the uncertainty surrounding the intentions and tactics of the man who precipitated the crisis, Gianfranco Fini, speaker of the lower-house Chamber of Deputies. According to Maurizio Pessato of SWG, a polling firm, the main reason for the decline in...

Former Soviet leader warns against Russia's 'undemocratic trends'
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has warned that Russia's undemocratic political landscape is threatening its stability. Mr Gorbachev said in an article published yesterday in Novaya Gazeta newspaper that the lack of political competition, flawed Elections, shrinking media freedom and rampant Corruption have slowed down Russia's development. "If we fail to overcome undemocratic trends, all our achievements of the previous years will come under threat," he said. "Not only the democratic p...

Berlusconi Allegedly Bought Votes
Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi’s political rap sheet is already quite appalling, from alleged under-age sexcapades to anti-Semitic jokes. But new allegations by state prosecutors have added another blotch on the Billionaire’s bill: He’s accused of buying votes to stay in power. —JCL The state prosecution service in Rome today opened an investigation into claims that Silvio Berlusconi was buying up MPs before a series of votes in parliament next Tuesday to decide on the futu...

France supports naval technology transfer to Russia
© Ria Novosti. Alexey Danichev Russia and France are currently in talks on a 2+2 scheme, whereby Russia will buy two French Mistral-class amphibious assault ships and build another two at home. France is ready to transfer warship technology to Russia, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Thursday. "We see no problem in transferring technology," Fillon said at a joint news conference with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Russia and France are currently in talks on a 2+2 scheme, w...

Isolated Gbagbo courts defiant I.Coast rivals
Ivory Coast's bitterly disputed Presidential Election. Laurent Gbagbo wants... Laurent Gbagbo wants to "sit down and talk" with his internationally-backed rival for power in Ivory Coast, reports said, as he faced growing isolation after disputed polls. With world institutions freezing him out as he clings defiantly to power, newspaper reports indicated Gbagbo had made the first sign of a move to tackle the potentially violent standoff. "Let's sit down and talk," Gbagbo was quoted as saying by ...

"Heathers"
Meanwhile, the diplomatic cables slowly dribble out, a feed that makes last year’s MP expenses Scandal in the UK seem like Amateur theatre, an unpracticed warm-up before the main event. Even the Afghan and Iraq war logs, released by Wikileaks earlier this year, didn’t hold this kind of fascination. Nor did they attract this kind of upset. Every politican everywhere - from Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton to Vladimir Putin to Julia Gillard has felt compelled to express their stro...

Diane Francis: WikiLeaks Is the New Journalism
"Operation Payback" is looking more like the sequel to Revenge of the Nerds. This week, cyber attacks were mounted by pro-WikiLeaks digital Soldiers against MasterCard, Visa, PayPal and other companies for terminating Wikileaks accounts or pulling the plug on services. The damage appears to be minimal, but it may not be the next time. Collaboration plus transparency are watchwords in the lexicon of the Digital Commons, as it is known. For governments, businesses and individuals there are fewer...

Putin leads backlash over WikiLeaks boss detention
Moscow (AFP) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Thursday led growing support from some world leaders for the beleaguered Wikileaks founder, describing his detention in Britain as "undemocratic". The wave of support for Julian Assange, currently in a British jail as Sweden seeks his Extradition on Rape charges, came as Hackers -- dubbed "hack-tivists" -- stepped up cyber attacks on those opposed to WikiLeaks. But after taking down the websites of Visa, MasterCard ...

Will GOP House expose un-American activities? Part 1
It has been over 70 years since the U.S. House of Representatives began investigations into Communist infiltration of American society.  The now-infamous 'House Committee on Un-American Activites' of the 40s and 50s was implemented by Democrats who controlled the chamber. As Republicans prepare to become the majority in the House in 2011, a question arises as to whether or not a GOP-controlled House will expose un-American activites that appear to be rampant since the resurgence of the poli...

Gorbachev warns about Russia's stability
MOSCOW - Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has warned that Russia's undemocratic political landscape is threatening its stability. Gorbachev said in an article published Friday in Novaya Gazeta newspaper that the lack of political competition, flawed Elections, shrinking media freedom and rampant Corruption have slowed down Russia's development. "If we fail to overcome undemocratic trends, all our achievements of the previous years will come under threat," he said. "Not only the democ...

Vladimir Putin names puppy Buffy
Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, has named his new male puppy Buffy, picking a name suggested by a five-year old boy in a nationwide competition....

Putin Slams US for Wikileaks Assange Arrest (Video)
Vlad Putin slammed Western hypocrisy over the arrest this week of Julian Assange. Vlad Putin slammed the West for arresting Wikileaks founder Julian Assange this week. The arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for sexual misconduct illustrates the hypocrisy of the West about Democracy, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says. In the strongest comments to come out of Russia in the latest WikiLeaks saga, Putin also took aim at the U.S. for the cables, some of which had derided Russia a &...