8œ theSun | WEDNESDAY JULY 22 2009

news without borders

Alleged Berlusconi-call girl sex chatter on website

ROME: A purported exchange between
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
and a call girl aired on Monday on
the website of a left-leaning weekly,
drawing angry denunciation from the
billionaire’s lawyer.
A male voice said to be Berlusconi’s
can be heard saying on the L’Espresso
website, “I’m going to have a shower
too. So wait for me in the big bed if
you finish first.”
A woman’s voice, purportedly that
of call girl Patrizia D’Addario, replies:
“Which big bed... Putin’s?” in an ap-
parent reference to Russian Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin.
“Putin’s,” the male voice says, to
which the woman replies: “Oh, how
sweet... the one with the curtains.”
D’Addario has said Berlusconi,
72, has a four-poster bed that Putin
has slept in. The prime minister’s
lawyer Niccolo Ghedini scoffed at the
recording, calling it “totally worthless
material, totally implausible and the
stuff of invention.”
Anyone using the audio will be
sued, he added in a statement.
Berlusconi and Ghedini listened to
the recording at the prime minister’s
villa in Arcore, near his native Milan
in northwestern Italy, the Ansa news
agency reported.
D’Addario is at the centre of an
investigation into an entrepreneur
from southern Bari facing corruption
charges who allegedly paid call girls to
spend the night at the prime minister’s
Rome residence and a villa in Sardinia.
Berlusconi has rebuffed allegations of
paying for sex saying he prefers the
“pleasure of conquest”.
D’Addario has told the Italian
media that she was promised €2,000
(RM9,884) for each of two overnight
visits. She claims to have recorded
conversations with the media tycoon
and handed the recordings over to the
investigation, which does not directly
implicate Berlusconi.
Ghedini questioned how mate-
rial entrusted under seal to the Bari
investigation had “entered into the
possession” of journalists in the ex-
plosive affair.
A spokesman for Berlusconi’s Peo-
ple of Freedom party dismissed the
audio segments as “a pathetic attempt
to resuscitate a media campaign that
has already died”. – AFP

briefs
Man kills sister
over love affair
AMMAN: A 32-year-old Jordanian man
was charged with premeditated murder
after his teenaged sister was shot dead
on Monday over an alleged love affair in
the northern city of Irbid, police said.
“He shot his 17-year-old sister several
times today,” said a police spokesman.
“The girl, who died immediately, had
disappeared from home three days ago
with another man. Police found her with
him.”
The suspect killed his sister once she
arrived home. “Police handed the girl over
to her family, but he murdered her, turned
himself in and confessed to the crime,”
the spokesman said. – AFP
Firefighters struggle
to contain wildfires
TORONTO: Firefighters have made
slow progress putting out large-scale
wildfires raging in the western Ca-
nadian province of British Columbia,
Canadian media said.
Three fires broke out on Saturday
in mountains surrounding the town
of Kelowna, about 400km east of
Vancouver. Only one of them could be
partly contained, CTV television said
late on Monday.
About 11,000 people were forced
to leave their homes on Sunday while
another 6,000 were told by officials
to prepare for evacuation. No casual-
ties have been reported, but several
homes have been destroyed and large
areas have no electricity. Authorities
have so far not determined the cause
of the fires. – dpa
German legislator facing
child porn indictment
BERLIN: Former German Social Demo-
crat (SPD) parliamentarian Joerg Tauss is
facing prosecution on charges of possess-
ing child pornography, state prosecutors
said yesterday. An investigation begun in
March after pornographic material was
found in the legislator’s home has now
concluded, with prosecutors saying they
will now press for an indictment against
the 56-year-old.
In order to be prosecuted, Tauss would
have to have his parliamentary immunity
lifted, a decision that has to be made by
the German Bundestag.
Tauss has claimed that the images
found at his home were related to his
work as a media expert. Tauss resigned
his SPD party posts upon the discoveries,
and joined the Pirate Party, a minor party
advocating, amongst other things, the
right to privacy on the internet. – dpa
Mumbai attacks
trial adjourned
MUMBAI: The Mumbai attacks trial
was adjourned yesterday, with the
judge allowing the prosecution more
time to respond to the defendant’s
dramatic confession that he was
involved.
Judge M.L. Tahaliyani said prosecu-
tor Ujjwal Nikam had today to prepare
his response, after Mohammed Ajmal
Kasab admitted that he was one of the
gunmen. “If his plea is to be accepted,
then what should be the next stage?
Does his plea cover all the charges
levelled against him?” the judge told
Nikam. Pakistani national Kasab, 21,
originally pleaded not guilty to 86
charges connected to last November’s
attacks. But he stood up in the special
prison court on Monday and admitted
his involvement. – AFP
EPAPIX
Getting
ready...
Students of
Takshashila
Academy
use solar
view goggles
during a class
to view the
Aso calls election,
risks historic defeat
solar eclipse
in Kathmandu
yesterday.
Nepal will be
witnessing
a total solar
eclipse for TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso worry that the Democrats’ spending plans
the first dissolved parliament’s lower house yesterday will inflate an already huge public debt and
time in this for an election on Aug 30 and vowed to re- push up government bond prices.
century this
morning. The store voters’ faith in his fractious ruling party, “I think that for the short-term, hope that
which polls show is in danger of a historic the Democrats taking power will cure the
solar eclipse
will begin at defeat. parliamentary paralysis and lead to smooth
5.46am and A victory by the opposition Democratic passage of bills and policies will outweigh any
end at 7.45am Party of Japan would end more than 50 years worries about uncertainty,” said Noritsugu
in Nepal. of near-unbroken rule by the conservative Hirakawa, a strategist at Okasan Securities.
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and raise the “Over the longer term, there are questions
chances of breaking a deadlock caused by a about how the Democrats will fund all their
divided parliament that has stymied policy social programmes, and this may eventually
implementation as Japan struggles to emerge weigh on the market.”
from recession. A spate of opinion polls show the Demo-
It would also usher in a government crats well ahead of Aso’s LDP among voters,
pledging to pay more heed to consumers though close to 30% are still undecided.
than companies, to wrest control of policy Aso’s announcement of his election
from bureaucrats to cut waste, and to adopt plan last week – one day after the LDP
a diplomatic stance less subservient to close was trounced in a closely watched Tokyo
ally the United States. assembly poll – sparked chaos in the LDP,
“This is a major, revolutionary election to with critics trying to oust him from the top
allow politicians to take the lead in Japanese party post.
government,” Democratic Party leader Yukio Party heavyweights blocked the move,
Hatoyama told party members. but agreed Aso should appear at a meeting
“We should face it with a sense of historic of LDP lawmakers to hear their complaints.
mission.” In remarks carried live on nationwide TV,
Many investors in Japanese financial Aso apologised for his failings and admitted
markets would welcome an end to the pro- that the party’s internal chaos had contributed
longed political stalemate, but some analysts to recent local election losses. – Reuters

Man says too drugged to

remember chopping up girl
HONGKONG: A man accused of chopping up a
16-year-old girl and flushing her body parts down
a toilet of a Hongkong flat claimed he was so
dazed by drugs that he had no memory of killing
her, a newspaper report said yesterday. Ting Kai-
tai, 24, told police he could only remember that
he had gripped the girl’s neck for “one or two
minutes” in April as they played “vigorously” in
bed, the South China Morning Post said.
In a police interview read out on Monday at
the opening of Ting’s murder trial, he said he
could only vaguely remember telephoning the
girl on April 27 asking her to have sex with him.
Ting, who admitted taking the drugs ecstasy
and ketamine at a disco the night before meeting
the girl, told police he later woke up to find Wong
Ka-miu lying dead on the bed with blood oozing
from her mouth.
He told police he then dismembered Wong’s
body and flushed the small pieces down the
toilet. He also said he beheaded the teenager
and dumped her head into the sea. Investigators
later found human tissue mixed with sediment
in an underground sewer pipe at the building
where Ting rented his flat. Ting and Wong – who
had previously met on a website specialising in
compensated dating, a euphemism for prostitu-
tion among teenagers – had agreed to meet for a
price of HK$1,500 (RM677). Ting has pleaded not
guilty to murder. – dpa