Berlusconi has no intention of stepping down..[ 2031 ]

      Berlusconi defiant over sex probe         


Published: 8:34AM Sunday January 23, 2011 Source: Reuters

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  Italy PM Silvio Berlusconi - Source: Reuters
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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi accused magistrates today of illegally spying on him as he refused to appear before prosecutors who allege that he had sex with an under-age prostitute.

As the opposition urged him to resign over the latest sex scandal, Berlusconi said he had no intention of stepping down, keeping up his offensive against magistrates he says are biased and bent on trying to oust him from power.

"I am not running away and I am not resigning," Berlusconi said in a phone call to a meeting of his People of Freedom party. "I am defending myself and reacting to what is truly an attempt to subvert the will of voters," he said.

Milan prosecutors allege that Berlusconi paid for sex with a "significant" number of prostitutes, including a 17-year-old nightclub dancer, at parties in his villa near Milan.

Having sex with a prostitute under the age of 18 is an offence in Italy. Berlusconi denies any wrongdoing.

Leaked transcripts of phone conversations between more than 20 women who attended the so-called "bunga bunga" sex parties at Berlusconi's residence have been splashed on Italian newspapers for days, piling pressure on the premier.

But Berlusconi said the wiretaps were part of an illegal political, judicial and media campaign to destroy him, defending his right to privacy and calling the accusations "ridiculous".

"Since the beginning of 2010 all the guests that came to my house in Arcore have been subject to continued phone tapping ... Is it normal in a democracy that the prime minister can be subject to this type of controls, to this spying?" he asked, to a chorus of "No" by party members.

Legal battle

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The magistrates had summoned the 74-year-old billionaire, who denies any wrongdoing, for questioning and gave him a choice of three days between Friday and Sunday.

But the premier's lawyers sent a statement to the prosecutors yesterday contending that they do not have the right to preside over the case and informing them Berlusconi would not attend. The lawyers say that the case should be handled instead by a special court for ministers.

Berlusconi has ridden out a string of sex scandals since returning to power in 2008, but the latest allegations come at a particularly difficult time for him.

He narrowly survived a confidence vote in December after breaking up with a key former ally and lost automatic immunity from prosecution following a top court ruling last week.

Opposition parties say the scale of the allegations has made Berlusconi's poisition untenable, while Vatican officials and media have said politicians should show morality.

"If we must have a government that is concerned about bunga bunga rather than the problems of Italians, then early elections are the solution," said Pierferdinando Casini, a Catholic centrist.

However, Berlusconi's allies, including the powerful Northern League coalition partner, are standing by him and surveys show mixed views about the scandal's political fallout.

An IPSOS opinion poll this week showed that 79% of Italians thought Berlusconi should explain himself before the prosecutors, and 54% did not believe that Berlusconi was being persecuted by the judiciary.

However, 50% of those interviewed did not think the probe would affect his government or weaken him, and 42% said he would see out his term, which ends in 2013.

Outrage over Egypt's church attack..[ 2030 ]

Al Qaeda-linked group attacked church in Egypt, authorities say

By the CNN Wire Staff

Sunday., January 23, 2011 7:31 a.m. EST

European Coptic churches are on high alert following the New Year's Day bombing of a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt.

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- The Palestinian Islamic Army, which has links to al Qaeda, carried out the New Year's Day attack on a Christian church in Alexandria, Egypt, that left almost two dozen people dead, Interior Minister Habib al-Adly said Sunday.
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It was not immediately clear what evidence he had or whether anyone had been arrested.

Egyptian authorities earlier this month released a sketch of a man they think is responsible for the attack.

"The man in the picture is unknown and authorities are trying to confirm his identity," Col. Alla Mahmoud of the Interior Ministry said at the time.

 

Outrage over Egypt's church attack

The Interior Ministry used forensic technology to re-create the face of the suspected suicide bomber.

Some Muslims attended Christmas services in solidarity with Coptic Christians after the bombing, and demonstrators marched in support of them at Egypt's prestigious Al-Azhar University.

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The bombing of the Coptic Church of the Two Saints killed 23 people -- the deadliest attack on Christians in majority-Muslim Egypt in some time, but far from the only one.

Ten days later, a gunman killed a Christian man and wounded five other Christians on a train in Egypt. One of the victims said the gunman opened fire after yelling in Arabic, "There is no God but God."

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The suspect was later identified as a deputy policeman.

And last week, a man was sentenced for his part in an attack on another Coptic church a year ago, Egypt's state-run Al Ahram newspaper reported January 16.

Mohamed El-Kamouny, one of three people accused in the targeted killing of members of the Coptic Christian sect after a Christmas mass, is the first to be sentenced.

Seven people were killed -- six Copts and a Muslim guard -- in the January 2010 incident outside a church in the southern town of Naga Hammadi. Coptics observe Christmas Day on January 7.

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The judge who sentenced El-Kamouny postponed the sentencing of the other two defendants until next month, Al Ahram reported.

About 9% of Egypt's 80 million residents are Coptic Christians.

They base their theology on the teachings of the Apostle Mark, who introduced Christianity to Egypt, according to St. Takla Church in Alexandria, the capital of Coptic Christianity.

The religion split with other Christians in the fifth century over the definition of the divinity of Jesus Christ.

CNN's Housam Ahmed contributed to this report.

South Russia mass murder..[ 2029 ]

Investigators eye 'drug link' in south Russia mass murder

Investigators eye 'drug link' in south Russia mass murder

20:55 22/01/2011

© RIA Novosti. Dmitri Akhmadullin

MOSCOW, January 22 (RIA Novosti)

Russian investigators are looking into the possibility that the mass murder in the southern Russian city of Stavropol could be drug-related, an official investigations spokesman on Saturday.

The bodies of five men and three women with gunshot and stab wounds were found on Friday in a house, belonging to a local crime boss Vladimir Slizayev, known as "Khan."

Spokesman Vladimir Markin said the dead people were the house's owner Slizayev, a drug smuggler who had served a given jail sentence, his family members and a driver.

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An eight-year-old boy and four-week-old girl, believed to be Slizayev's granddaughter, have survived the slaughter. The children were blocked in a room on the second floor, investigators said.

While leaving the house, the killers damaged a gas tank to provoke a gas explosion in an effort to kill the children. However, no blast occurred and the children have been unharmed.

The boy is now giving evidence to police.

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Earlier reports said antiques and jewelry were stolen from Slizayev's home.

Stavropol police beefed up security in response to the killings and are inspecting all vehicles leaving the city.

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The killings came just two months after the bodies of 12 people, including eight adults and four children, were found in a house in the village of Kushchevskaya, in the southern Krasnodar region. A local crime boss has been charged with organizing the murders.

Milk and tobacco [ 2028 ]

Shocking pics of two-year-old smoking boy

.Indonesia : Parents  show their happiness as they provide for their 2 year's old child milk and tobacco.....nice things......congratulations

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Shocking pics of two-year-old smoking boy
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US Marines fighting battle with the Taliban..[ 2027 ]

US Marines fight fierce battle with the Taliban in Helmand

US Marines fight fierce battle with the Taliban in Helmand
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