Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi was grappling last night with the most serious scandal to hit his government since it came to office last year. As insults flew between members of his Cabinet, Antonio Di Pietro, a minister and former anti-corruption prosecutor, said attempts had been made to derail a fraud investigation in which Prodi and his justice minister, Clemente Mastella, are both suspects.
Di Pietro said the government's reaction was reminiscent of what happened under Silvio Berlusconi, when "politicians invented technicalities and laws [suited to their needs] to ensure they were not put on trial."
He said that if the crisis was not tackled "immediately and with determination, we shall all be overwhelmed."
Mastella hit back by calling Di Pietro a "legal illiterate." Both the justice minister and Prodi deny wrongdoing.
The affair centers on an investigation in the southern city of Catanzaro into alleged embezzlement of EU funds. It has since reportedly spread to take in claims that the centre-left used public cash to "buy" support in the surrounding region of Calabria, where Mastella was elected.
The fact that Prodi was being investigated was reported in July but not officially confirmed until Sunday, when Mastella said: "The prime minister is, like me, under investigation."
Soon after it was reported that Prodi was formally under investigation, justice ministry officials arrived in Catanzaro to start an inquiry into the conduct of the case. In September, Mastella asked that the prosecutor in charge, Luigi De Magistris, and his superior both be transferred to new posts.
Earlier this month, De Magistris told the state-run RAI television channel that he had faced "pressure and intimidation from the authorities." Prodi criticized the program for a lack of "seriousness [and] professionalism."
Mastella said RAI's board ought to be dismissed.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of