Joe Rogan: Is Kevin James a martial artist? Podcaster calls comedian 'good dude'
Joe Rogan addressed whether comedian Kevin James is a martial artist during his podcast episode
2023-06-13 19:26
UK's pandemic inquiry opens as victims' relatives lash out
An inquiry probing the UK government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic kicked off Tuesday with the investigation mired in controversy even before...
2023-06-13 19:25
Romanian prosecutors change human trafficking charge against Andrew Tate
BUCHARESTRomanian prosecutors said on Tuesday that social media influencer Andrew Tate, his brother Tristan and two other suspects
2023-06-13 19:20
Romanian president taps new premier to form government in agreed power swap
BUCHAREST Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday designated Marcel Ciolacu, the leader of the ruling coalition Social Democrat
2023-06-13 19:20
Futures rise ahead of inflation reading, Fed meet in focus
(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures rose on Tuesday ahead of data that is expected to show consumer prices cooled in
2023-06-13 19:15
Russian strikes kill 10 in Zelensky's hometown
Russian strikes early Tuesday on the hometown of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky killed ten people, as Moscow said it had captured Western...
2023-06-13 18:58
What happened in Silvio Berlusconi’s notorious ‘Bunga Bunga’ sex party scandal?
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s three-time prime minister, has died in Milan, aged 86. A conservative media impresario, AC Milan owner and sometime cruise ship crooner, Berlusconi dominated Italian politics and public life for almost 20 years as the leader of the centre-right Forza Italia party and its People of Freedom successor organisation, leading four governments over the course of three spells as PM stretching from 1994 to 2011. An obvious forerunner to Donald Trump, Berlusconi was a populist as well known for his outrageous remarks (often about other world leaders like Angela Merkel and Barack Obama) and his womanising as he was for his political leadership, with scandal never far behind him wherever he went. His final years in office in particular were marred by allegations of corruption and sordid tales of so-called “bunga bunga” sex parties being staged at his lavish Villa San Martino in Arcore on the outskirts of Milan. The parties first came to light in October 2010 when Berlusconi personally telephoned a police station to request that one Karima El Mahroug, a 17-year-old nightclub dancer from Morocco also known as “Ruby the Heart Stealer”, be released from custody after she was accused of stealing a 3,000 euro bracelet. Berlusconi incorrectly informed the officers he spoke to that the girl was the niece of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in the hope of winning her freedom and preventing any further inquiry into her recent attendance at one of the decadent gatherings then occurring regularly at his home. Ms El Mahroug was duly released into the care of Berlusconi associate Nicole Minetti but, when prosecutors subsequently learned of his intervention on her behalf, an investigation was launched into their relationship given that she was underage. In an interview with prosecutor Antonio Sangermano soon after the police station episode, Ms El Mahroug claimed Berlusconi had sent a limousine to her home to bring her out to the villa for the first time on 14 February that year. “That evening Berlusconi explained to me that bunga bunga consisted of a harem that he copied from his friend [Libyan dictator Muammar] Gaddafi, in which the girls take their clothes off and have to provide physical pleasures,” she said, introducing the wider world to the phrase for the first time. Despite Berlusconi’s insistence that the events were not Roman orgies but simply “elegant dinners”, prosecutors eventually produced a list of 33 young women, primarily aspiring starlets hoping to exploit his influence and break into television via one of his channels, who said they had attended the gatherings and been paid for sex. Detailed accounts were also collected of the parties themselves, which typically consisted of green, white and red foods being served in honour of Italy’s tricolour flag, followed by a floorshow of costumed stripteases – with participants dressing up as nuns, nurses and policewomen or even public figures like Mr Obama or the Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho – after which Berlusconi would pick one of his guests to spend the night with, for which the woman in question would be amply rewarded with expensive gifts, from cash and jewellery to rent-free apartments. Berlusconi would finally be accused of abuse of office and paying for sex in with a minor over his relationship with Ms El Mahroug. The dancer insisted she had never slept with Berlusconi, telling a court: “It’s the first time in my life that a man has not tried to take me to bed. He behaved like a father, I swear.” He was initially found guilty in June 2013 and sentenced to seven years in jail but the verdict was overturned a year later by an appeals court, which ruled there was no proof he had known she was underage at the time of their encounter. Italy’s highest court confirmed his acquittal in 2015. But the disgraced PM was later returned to the dock in Rome, Siena and Milan after being accused of bribing witnesses to lie about the “bunga bunga” scandal, although he was subsequently cleared in each city, most recently in Milan in February 2023. Berlusconi celebrated that verdict earlier this year on Instagram, writing that it had ended years of “suffering, of mud and of incalculable political damage”. The parties would later be recreated in Italian director Paolo Sorrentino’s highly entertaining satire Loro (2018) in which Toni Servillo played the ageing Silvio Berlusconi. Read More Silvio Berlusconi: Former Italian PM plagued by tax fraud and ‘bunga bunga’ sex scandals dies aged 86 Silvio Berlusconi obituary: The bunga bunga party loving billionaire who was the king of comebacks Putin pays tribute to ‘dear friend’ Berlusconi Italian news presenter holds back tears as she announces Berlusconi’s death Farewell, Berlusconi – you showed Boris and Trump how it’s done Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement
2023-06-13 18:58
People think they’ve spotted ‘hidden iPhone’ in 350-year-old painting
People think they have spotted an “Apple iPhone” in a painting that’s 350 years old and they are absolutely baffled. In the 1600s, people’s wildest imaginations probably couldn’t have dreamt up the technology we have now in the 21st century, from mobile phones to artificial intelligence. But now, people believe that they have seen an iPhone mysteriously appear in a 1670 painting by Pieter de Hooch. Hooch is an artist from the Dutch Golden Age and is renowned for his works depicting domestic scenes from the time. In one of his paintings, a woman is sitting with a dog on her lap while a man is standing and holding what very much resembles an iPhone. The painting even left Apple’s CEO Tim Cook to question everything he thought he knew. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter At a press conference in 2016, Cook joked he was “not so sure” about who invented the phone after seeing the Hooch painting at the Rijksmuseum art gallery during a trip to Amsterdam. Cook argued: “There was an iPhone in one of the paintings. It's tough to see but I swear it's there.” While for some it has added fuel to the fire of the time-travel conspiracy, the painting’s name may actually point toward a different conclusion. Hooch’s image is called, 'Young Woman with a Letter and a Messenger' in an Interior, suggesting that the object in the man’s hand may in fact be a bog standard paper envelope. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-06-13 18:57
Growing number of small businesses worry about inflation and the economy's future
A greater number of small businesses are worried about inflation and future business conditions, according to a survey released Tuesday by the National Federation of Independent Business.
2023-06-13 18:50
Marketmind: Inflation anxiety, yet S&P 500 keeps on running
A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Samuel Indyk. Jerome Powell and his band of
2023-06-13 18:29
Fed kicks off meeting-by-meeting policymaking amid high uncertainty
By Ann Saphir and Michael S. Derby Federal Reserve officials sit down Tuesday for their first meeting in
2023-06-13 18:28
NATO to set up liaison office in Tokyo, beef up regional ties -Nikkei
TOKYO/SYDNEY NATO will set up a liaison office in Tokyo in 2024 and use it as a hub
2023-06-13 18:20
