- Jul 15, 2003
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'I'm not a saint': Italy's Berlusconi
ROME ? Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, facing a snowballing call girl scandal, Wednesday urged his detractors to understand that he is no saint, the ANSA news agency reported.
"I'm not a saint," the billionare leader said at the inauguration of a highway construction project in northern Brescia.
"You understand that, and let's hope the people at La Repubblica understand that," he added, referring to the left-leaning daily that has carried an unending stream of reports on the prime minister's alleged peccadilloes since late April.
The series began with an unexplained relationship between the 72-year-old prime minister and an 18-year-old aspiring model who calls him "Daddy," sparking divorce proceedings from second wife Veronica Lario.
The scandal moved on to compromising photos taken at Berlusconi's luxury villa in Sardinia, published by the Spanish daily El Pais, before dwelling at length on the prime minister's alleged night with call girl Patrizia D'Addario, 42.
On Monday and Tuesday the weekly L'Espresso -- which owns La Repubblica -- posted audio clips on its website seemingly proving the liaison. La Repubblica followed up Wednesday with excerpts from the pair's supposed breakfast the next morning. Last month Berlusconi said would not change and claimed Italians wanted him as he was.
"I am like that and I will not change. People want me the way I am," he told a news conference. "They want me because I am good, generous, sincere, loyal and I carry out my promises."
The media tycoon also pointed to a 61 percent approval rating, but the latest opinion survey published by La Repubblica put it at 49 percent.
It was the first time the figure has dipped below 50 percent since Berlusconi's election in April 2008. D'Addario has said she filmed Berlusconi's bedroom with her cellphone as well as the bedside table with a framed photograph of Lario.
Berlusconi denied ever having paid money for sex, saying: "I have never seen the satisfaction that there could be in it without the pleasure of conquest."
Cannes bans nudists after yacht club complains
Print StoryAuthorities in Cannes have banned naturists from a public beach after the southern French town's yacht club complained the naked bathers had begun to get out of hand. Naturists have been tolerated for years on Palm Beach, which lies directly in front of the exclusive club. But the yacht club said they had recently begun exposing themselves more visibly to club members, particularly in front of the restaurant's windows.
"We organise sailing for children, we have a restaurant, but when the naturists get up from bathing they walk around naked," a spokeswoman for the club said.
"Until now they were tolerated, they were quite discreet, but the problem that triggered the decision was that recently their behaviour became more questionable."
The town hall issued the order Monday banning naturism on Palm Beach.
"Naturists have been coming to the beach for years and this had provoked complaints, notably from the yacht club," a Cannes town hall spokeswoman said.
First time offenders will now face a fine of 11 euros (£9), with more serious cases possibly earning a prison sentence and a fine of 15,000 euros.
So apparently, along with fast food and MTV, Europeans are starting to acquire our American attitudes about sex and such.
Didnt use to hear about all these issues in Europe back in the 80's and 90's. Of course, in the 80's and 90's we were much more concerned with our own scandals.