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...left-wing commentator's show was canceled after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi accused him and two other presenters of making "criminal use" of RAI, the biggest public television network in Italy. Santoro waged a long court battle against the broadcaster and prevailed, going back on the air in 2006. Earlier this month, however, RAI suspended all of its political talk programming until regional elections are held on March 28, citing a need to maintain its political balance. This time, Santoro decided that his show, Annozero, would go on. He filmed a live version of his program Thursday that was streamed...
...boards are appointed by the state. Last week, Italian newspapers published transcripts of wiretaps in which Berlusconi could apparently be heard berating Giancarlo Innocenzi, the head of the independent broadcast regulator, to shut down Annozero. During a November broadcast dealing with alleged mafia ties in Berlusconi's government, the Prime Minister allegedly phoned Innocenzi and exclaimed: "It's obscene. You need to make a concerted effort to push RAI to say, 'Enough. We're shutting everything down,'" according to the transcripts. Berlusconi, who has been placed under investigation by Italian magistrates, calls the accusations that he tried to block...
...State of Law and other blocs have already indicated they will contest the results and demand recounts. Even if the results announced today hold up to scrutiny, there's a chance al-Maliki will be able to pull together a coalition to form the new government and retain the Prime Ministership. Meanwhile, the main Shi'ite bloc, the National Iraqi Alliance, won 70 seats; the main Kurdish alliance got 43. A simple majority of 163 seats is needed to govern. (See a 2004 interview with then Prime Minister Allawi...
Appointed Prime Minister of Iraq's first post-Saddam government in 2004, Allawi headed a corrupt, inept administration that set a poor tone for Iraq's fledgling democracy. As an American appointee, he lacked street cred. He projected himself as a democratic strongman - a contradiction in terms that convinced few of his countrymen. Although a Shi'ite, he alienated many among the majority sect by espousing a secular view of Iraq. Many Iraqis were suspicious of his ties to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, even though Allawi had left the party in 1975 and had survived an assassination attempt ordered...
...religious Shi'ite parties began to splinter, Allawi's political fortunes began to turn around. It helped, too, that his successors as Prime Minister - Ibrahim al-Jaafari and al-Maliki - were unable to deliver clean and efficient government. Allawi's party made a strong showing in last year's provincial elections, and that allowed him to unite a strong coalition of secular and Sunni parties under the Iraqi banner...