Italian police have launched an investigation into the torching of a car belonging to a model who alleged she was paid to attend a party with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The suspected arson attack on Thursday morning came as a second woman, Patrizia D’Addario, a former model and escort who claims she spent a night with Berlusconi at his Rome residence, said a break-in at her house could be connected to threats she made to go public about the night.
The women and 17 others have reportedly been questioned by Bari prosecutors who suspect a local businessman, Gianpaolo Tarantini, of “abetting prostitution” by paying women to attend parties, including those held by Berlusconi.
Barbara Montereale’s Honda Jazz was doused with gas and set alight in the southern city of Bari after she alleged that she had been paid 1,000 euros (US$1,400) by Tarantini to attend a party at Berlusconi’s holiday home in Sardinia.
Montereale also claimed that D’Addario had told her she had sex with Berlusconi in November, after a dinner at his Rome residence.
D’Addario declined to confirm that in an interview with La Repubblica on Thursday, but did say that Berlusconi had “openly caressed” her on a sofa in front of a bodyguard. She also said she attended two parties at his Rome residence, including one at which about 20 women flocked around him as if they were at a “harem.”
D’Addario said she was not paid for spending the night with Berlusconi, but secured a promise from him to help win her a building permit for a hotel in Bari.
When that help was not forthcoming, D’Addario said she felt betrayed and told a friend about secret audio tapes she had made during her night with Berlusconi. A few days later, she said, a computer, CDs, underwear and the Versace dress she wore that night were stolen from her home.
“I was frightened, then began to understand,” she said.
Berlusconi said this week he had never paid for sex, preferring the pleasure of conquest. He said he did not recall D’Addario.
“I didn’t know her name and didn’t remember her face,” he said.
Berlusconi’s wife announced she would divorce him last month, accusing him of “frequenting minors” after he attended the 18th birthday party of aspiring model Noemi Letizia.
On Thursday Berlusconi said: “I will not change. The Italians want me like this.”
His governing coalition performed well in this month’s EU and local elections, but as new allegations emerge, he has faced a growing groundswell of Catholic objections to his lifestyle. This week, Italy’s most popular Catholic magazine said he had “passed the limits of decency.”
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
China has approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines, the government said yesterday, as Beijing moves to reinforce its territorial claims in the contested region. A notice posted online by the Chinese State Council said that details about the area and size of the project would be released separately by the Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration. “The building of the Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve is an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability and sustainability of the natural ecosystem of Huangyan Island,” the notice said. Scarborough
RSS