Clooney, Ronaldo to testify in Berlusconi sex trial
George Clooney and Christiano Ronaldo will testify in the trial of Italy’s ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi, charged with paying for sex with an underage girl.
John Hooper
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Eight traitors and debt sink Berlusconi
Members of the Italian prime minister’s party have been turning against him for weeks.
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ECB defends bond market intervention
The president of the European Central Bank has vigorously defended his controversial decision to buy up Italian and Spanish bonds.
Family estimated to have hidden billions
The Gadaffi family could have billions of dollars of funds hidden away in secret bank accounts in Dubai, Southeast Asia and the Persian Gulf.
Case could force leader to resign
The prostitution trial is the most dangerous yet in Berlusconi’s teflon-coated history.
Resignations strengthen Italian PM
Ministers loyal to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s former ally Gianfranco Fini has resigned from the Italian government.
Is he a hard hat or a prophet?
He’s a man of temperate habits with a love of cats and classical music. Yet his image is that of God’s rottweiler. John Hooper profiles the pope.
Is the pope a reactionary or a prophet?
Pope Benedict XVI is shy man of temperate habits with a love of cats and classicial music. How does this square with his image as God’s rottweiler?
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Top chef in row with Michelin guide
It was the kind of flamboyant outburst you expect from a chef.
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Saints on your cell
Anyone who visits Italy sees one sooner or later, most likely tucked into the frame of a mirror above a bar or taped to the dashboard of a taxi. But lots of devout Roman Catholic Italians carry them in their wallets and purses — little cards bearing the picture (or at least the imagined likeness) of a saint or other religious figure.
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Three years in a cave, and trying for six
Maurizio Montalbini is Italy’s least gregarious citizen. The 53-year-old sociologist has distinguished himself by spending almost three years of his life in total on his own and underground. On Thursday Montalbini vanished into a pothole near the eastern Italian town of Ascoli Piceno having instructed his support team that, so long as all went well, he should be left undisturbed for another three years.
