Word: scandalous
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...writing, of course, about the Berlusconi sex scandal that has been all over the Italian papers since the end of April. Berlusconi is alleged to have had an inappropriate relationship with an 18 year-old aspiring show-girl, Napoli’s Noemi Letizia...
...scandal began when it was reported that the prime minister attended the high school student’s 18th birthday party and gave her a $10,000 necklace. A few days later Veronica Laria, Berlusconi’s wife of 19 years, told the Italian press that she was filing for divorce because of her husband’s dalliances with young women, citing in particular his bizarre relationship with Letizia. Earlier this month, the scandal really took off: Photographs came out in the Spanish newspaper, El Pais, which depicted nude guests (including Mirek Toplanek, the former Czech prime minister...
Indeed, the scandal has had political consequences. While Mr. Belusconi’s approval rating remains above 50 percent, his party, the PdL (Popolo della Liberta—People of Liberty) did not do nearly as well as predicted in the recent EU elections. Berlusconi had anticipated that the party would receive 40 percent of the vote, but in fact it only accrued 35 percent. Berlusconi himself has admitted that the scandal has damaged Italy’s reputation...
...embarrassing missives were just the latest twist in a bizarre scandal that had gripped the state and political observers across the country even before the governor returned from his unexplained absence and revealed his affair. Not even his staff seemed to know exactly where the governor was, and until he was greeted at Atlanta's airport on the morning of June 24 by a reporter from The State, the official line was that Sanford had been hiking on the Appalachian Trail to clear his head after a tough legislative session. Though even his toughest critics seemed to feel some measure...
...single-handedly rewritten the rules of Italian politics. He carries unprecedented weight with television news broadcasts, both in his ownership of private channels and his influence over the management of state broadcaster RAI. (Leading nightly news TG1 has been roundly criticized for its vague and misleading reports on the scandal.) Berlusconi's power goes beyond just the physical instruments of communication. He has perfected the art of politics as an around-the-clock magician's act. And in Italy, the only thing more difficult than trying to imagine how he can avoid disappearing is imagining what public life would...