Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday played down photos in a Spanish newspaper of topless women sunbathing at his seaside villa as “innocent” and said they were an invasion of his privacy.
Berlusconi’s private life, including an investigation into his use of state planes to ferry guests to his luxury villa on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, has become an explosive issue ahead of European elections.
In an article titled “The pictures vetoed by Berlusconi,” Spain’s El Pais published five photos, including two showing the prime minister walking within the villa grounds accompanied by women whose faces are blurred, and one of women sunbathing topless.
Another photo in the newspaper, which last week attacked Berlusconi as bent on using his power to give himself legal immunity, shows a naked man by the poolside.
“Do you take a shower in a jacket and tie?” Berlusconi asked a radio interviewer when quizzed about the photos. “These are people bathing in a jacuzzi inside a private house meant for guests.”
The photos were taken by photographer Antonello Zappadu, whose pictures an Italian prosecutor has allowed Berlusconi to seize on privacy grounds because they were taken without permission from outside the villa using a powerful lens.
“These are innocent photos, there’s no scandal but this is a violation of privacy and a scandalous aggression,” Berlusconi told local radio, lamenting that this was unacceptable when the prime minister hosted a Czech delegation at his villa.
The 72-year-old conservative leader is mired in a scandal over his friendship with the 18-year-old aspiring model Noemi Letizia, which prompted his wife to ask for a divorce and stirred an outcry from the opposition.
Berlusconi, whose popularity has weathered Italy’s worst post-war economic crisis, denies a sexual relationship with Letizia and says it is a private matter.
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
YELLOW SHIRTS: Many protesters were associated with pro-royalist groups that had previously supported the ouster of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin, in 2006 Protesters rallied on Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced more than 260,000. Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, although
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
RSS