Berlusconi trial begins in Milan

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at 1:30 PM - 0 Comments

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s trial on charges of paying for sex with an under-age prostitute opened in Milan on Wednesday, however proceedings were adjourned in less than ten minutes. Neither Berlusconi nor the alleged prostitute, Karima El Mahroug, were present at the trial. Berlusconi faces up to 15 years in jail if found guilty, but both Berlusconi and Mahroug deny the charges. Observers are expecting an extended trial full of delays and challenges, with 20,000 pages of evidence and a list of 78 witnesses yet to be examined. Prosecutors allege that Berlusconi, currently a defendant in four different trials, is accused of paying for sex with Mahroug when she was 17.

New York Times

Italy’s resources strained under influx of North African migrants

By macleans.ca - Monday, March 7, 2011 at 12:58 PM - 7 Comments

Another 1,000 migrants fleeing Tunisia and Libya have landed on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, adding to the more than 6,000 who’ve done the same since mid-February. With just 850 beds, the small island’s reception centre is dramatically under-equipped to service the migrants. Italy is seeking funding from the EU, the BBC reports, amid fears of much larger exodus from North African countries. Last week, Italy, Spain, France, Cyprus, Malta and Greece presented joint proposals to the EU, urging the body to share the burden of accepting migrants, and to set up a common EU asylum system by 2012.

BBC News

Salami by the light of the crescent moon

By Julia Belluz - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 8:45 AM - 6 Comments

Photograph by Cole Garside

Every year, when the cold in Toronto levels off to a late-January sting and the moon begins to wane, Nilo Palu drives his polished gunmetal truck to a nearby slaughterhouse and hauls two butchered pigs (some 500 lb. of pork) back to his basement. He lays the mountain of meat on a wooden table near the taxidermic animals he captured on various hunting trips. Then, with a group of friends, Palu carries out an ancient tradition he has practised since his boyhood in Italy.

For these sixty- and seventysomething Italian Canadians, slaughtered pig can only become prosciutto and salami during the luna calante, after the full moon, when the silver orb recedes into the black sky. “If we don’t cure by the moon,” Palu explains with a furrowed brow, “the meat could go bad.”

Planting a garden or making wine according to the lunar cycle—the principle of biodynamics—is well documented. The movement was initiated in the early 20th century by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, who suggested that crops should be grown organically, in harmony with the stars and planets. Before Steiner, farmers followed moon lore, and still do. (See the Farmer’s Almanac.)

But lunar curing? Experts in the world’s gastronomic capitals appeared to know nothing of the practice. “I’m afraid I’m stumped on this one,” said a New York University food studies professor. Harold McGee, the Curious Cook and author of On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, also said he’d never heard of cosmic charcuterie. The Slow Food Movement folks were similarly perplexed, as were anthropologists and food historians at the famed University of Gastronomic Sciences in northern Italy. Paolo Cornale, an academic who teaches animal production at the school, even investigated on our behalf. “I spoke with 10 people, experts and meat producers,” he reported. “To be honest, many of them have never even heard of the moon’s influence on meat production.”

Still, the moon guided Palu’s annual ritual, passed down through the generations. Growing up in Friuli, he recalls holding the leg of a pig, with three other men, as it was being slaughtered. This would happen every winter when temperatures dropped and “the moon was going down, to the new moon,” the calo di luna. If they didn’t dress the hog then, the puciter, or pig master, who helped local families turn their pigs into prosciutto, warned the meat would simply turn black.

Continue…

Berlusconi to stand trial on prostitution charges

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 1:45 PM - 0 Comments

An Italian judge ruled Thursday that Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi will have to stand trial on charges of paying for sex with an underage prostitute, and abuse of power for trying to cover it up. Berlusconi and Karima El Mahroug, a Moroccan nightclub dancer also known as Ruby Heartthrob, deny the prostitution accusations. The prime minister also denies pressuring a Milan police chief to release the girl from detention, where she was being held on charges of theft. The trial is scheduled to start on April 6, but the prime minister said he has no intention to resign, and accused the judiciary of staging a coup to force him out of office. The news broke just as Berlusconi faces the resumption of two long-delayed trials in Milan on charges of fraud and tax evasion. It is the first time, however, that judges are calling on Berlusconi to defend himself in court on charges related to his private life. Giorgio Napolitano, the Italian head of state, who has the power to dissolve parliament, hinted last week at the possibility that the renewed clash between the prime minister and the judiciary could lead to early elections.

Financial Times

Hundreds of thousands turn out for anti-Berlusconi marches

By macleans.ca - Monday, February 14, 2011 at 2:19 PM - 3 Comments

Hundreds of thousands of Italians marched against the country’s prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in protests held across Italy on Sunday. The rallies, mobilized by women campaigners, were the biggest sign to date of the level of popular disgruntlement with Berlusconi’s scandal-ridden government. The success of the initiative, dubbed “If not now, when,” surprised organizers themselves, who said around one million people gathered in the piazzas of over 200 towns across Italy. The 74-year-old prime minister stands accused of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of power for trying to cover it up, claims he denies. On Tuesday a Milan judge will decide whether to proceed to trial.

Financial Times

Berlusconi government threatens "total war" if case against him goes forward

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 3:00 PM - 10 Comments

The government of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is threatening to launch a “total war” against the country’s judiciary after prosecutors in Milan suggested he the frisky PM should be put on trial for sex crimes. Berlusconi and his parliamentary allies say the case against him should have been dropped following a vote in Italy’s lower house stipulating the prosecutors have no right to pursue the investigation. A judge is set to rule early next week on a request by the prosecution that Berlusconi’s case go straight to trial given the obviousness of the evidence” against him.

The Guardian

This week: Good news, bad news

By macleans.ca - Thursday, February 3, 2011 at 6:00 PM - 0 Comments

Good News

Fortified perimeter

A report prepared for Washington lawmakers reached a familiar conclusion: a “truly shocking” lack of security along the Canada-U.S. border. Of the 6,400 km that separate the two countries, only 51—less than one per cent—is under “acceptable control,” the report says. Which is why this week’s announcement of a White House sit-down between Barack Obama and Stephen Harper is welcome news. After months of speculation, the time has come for both leaders to hammer out the final details of a North American security perimeter that will not only boost security, but improve the flow of trade.

Loyal subjects

By a margin of three to one, Canadians support changes to the monarchy that would rid the system of its males-first succession rules—an issue that was recently raised in the British Parliament. Maybe that explains the report in a London tabloid that William and Kate have chosen Canada as the site of their first overseas tour after the April wedding. Clearly, the United States wasn’t even an option. A new survey found that only nine per cent of Americans are interested in whether the royal marriage even lasts.

In the safe lane

According to new figures released by Transport Canada, death by car is on the decline. In 2008 (the latest stats available), 2,419 people were killed behind the wheel, a 12 per cent drop from the previous year—and the lowest number of fatalities in nearly six decades. The dip is a direct result of tougher seat-belt and drunk-driving laws, not to mention airbags and impact beams. But gas prices deserve some “credit” too; Statistics Canada says the cost of a fill-up jumped 13 per cent over the past year.

Happy endings

Lots of people are lucky to be alive this week. In New Zealand, a hydro worker injured only his thumb and elbow after getting zapped with 19,000 volts of electricity (“I should be in a pine box,” he joked). In Utah, an accused robber is recovering after hurling himself out of the window of a moving police car—while wearing handcuffs. And in Scotland, a mountain climber somehow survived a 300-m fall off the side of an icy cliff. Rescuers found him standing up and looking at his map.

Bad News

Cruel and unusual

The reported slaughter of around 100 sled dogs in Whistler, B.C. has sparked outrage. The horrifying details of how the dogs were killed emerged in the workers’ compensation documents of a B.C. man claiming post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the incident. The man’s lawyer says his client shot the dogs after being told by the tour operator he sub-contracted for to make the business more “cost effective.” The tour operator insists it didn’t order the cull, but if dogs were euthanized it would be done in a “humane manner.” The B.C. SPCA and the RCMP are investigating.

Silvio “the Situation”

If the allegations are true, Silvio Berlusconi won’t be in office much longer. He’ll be in jail. The Italian prime minister—already famous for hosting “bunga bunga” sex parties at his home—is now accused of hiring two underage prostitutes. When one was later arrested for theft, Berlusconi reportedly pressured police to release her. Can you blame Jersey Shore producers for deciding to film Season 4 back in the old country?

Big, fat problem

As it does every five years, the U.S. government released new dietary guidelines this week. The mere fact Americans need to be reminded every five years to eat more greens and cut back on the salt is scary enough. But then again, Canadians may benefit from a similar scolding. According to a new report from the Heart and Stroke Foundation, nearly 90 per cent of Canadians consider themselves healthy, despite plenty of evidence that we don’t eat nearly enough fruits and veggies, and many of us are packing more pounds than we should.

How creative

A new study says creative people are more likely to cheat because they can find “original ways to bypass moral rules.” Although being clever, resourceful and imaginative looks great on a resumé, researchers also found that creativity “allows people to come up with a lot of excuses and justifications for why their behaviour isn’t bad.” Exhibit A: Lise Thibault. The former Quebec lieutenant-governor made her first court appearance this week, accused of creatively spending $700,000 in taxpayer money.

New sex scandal allegations involving Italian PM surface

By macleans.ca - Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 4:44 PM - 9 Comments

The sex-crime accusations facing the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, are mounting. Prosecutors now believe that Iris Berardi, a 19-year-old Brazilian showgirl, was underage when she went to Berlusconi’s summer villa in Sardinia in November 2009 and his palazzo near Milan a month later. Documents suggest she attended sex parties hosted by the 74-year old before her 18th birthday. Berlusconi is already accused of paying for sex with a teenage nightclub dancer known as Ruby the Heartbreaker. He is also accused of abuse of office for pressuring police to release Ruby on theft charges. These latest allegations were contained in a 227-page dossier submitted to a parliamentary committee on Wednesday by prosecutors who are investigating allegations that Berlusconi hand-picked prostitutes for wild parties. The dossier contains details about how Berlusconi and his friends were entertained by showgirls seeking career advancement.

The Telegraph

Not just a pretty face

By Erica Alini - Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 2:41 PM - 0 Comments

Giorgio Cosulich/Getty Images; LUCA BRUNO/AP;

Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi may have survived another no-confidence vote on Dec. 14, but he did so with a razor-thin majority. And with many Italians openly contemptuous of their PM, the country looks ready to draw the curtain on the septuagenarian media mogul sooner rather than later. But as an era appears to be drawing to an end, at least one of the former showgirls the PM installed as eye-candy in public office seems set to survive him on the political stage.

Of the five female members of Berlusconi’s 23-strong cabinet, two are former beauty queens who largely owe their political ascent to a favourable nod by the Casanova-in-chief. Over the past years, the prime minister’s penchant for appointing busty twentysomethings as political candidates also landed Nicole Minetti, a 25-year-old dental hygienist and former TV performer, in a key regional council, and a Miss Italia contestant, Barbara Matera, 29, in the European Parliament. The practice, as well as his cavorting with young women, allegedly cost the prime minister his marriage, after his now ex-wife Veronica Lario, 54, herself a former actress who once appeared topless on stage, lashed out at the “shameless rubbish, all in the name of power.”

But to the surprise of many, one of the women has morphed into a political figure with a future. Ridiculed as a bimbo when she was appointed equal opportunities minister, Mara Carfagna, 35, a former TV topless model, has managed to carve out a niche for herself. She is now one of the most popular politicians in her native Campania, and is rumoured to be a credible candidate as the next mayor of Naples. “She’s unlikely to fade away should Berlusconi’s patronage come to an end,” said Marco Tarchi, a professor of political science at the University of Florence. Continue…

Berlusconi to face “prostitution investigation”

By macleans.ca - Friday, January 14, 2011 at 4:56 PM - 3 Comments

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s 74-year-old prime minister, is under investigation to determine if he used his political influence to have a 17-year-old Moroccan girl, Ruby, released from jail in Milan. Berlusconi
admits he paid Ruby 7,000 euros for attending a party at his residence and to having made the call to police. But he says she was not paid for prostitution and that he was simply assisting a “person in need” when he telephoned on Ruby’s behalf. The launch of the investigation follows yesterday’s court decision that partially overturned a law he passed that would have made him immune to trial. He is currently facing three corruption and tax fraud trials.

Telegraph

Crash goes the Colosseum

By Patricia Treble - Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 1:20 PM - 2 Comments

Ciro De Luca/Reuters; Andrew Medichini/AP

Italy’s cultural heritage is under threat like never before. In November, two collapses at the archaeological site of Pompeii sent off alarm bells among experts, who see the endangered wonder, a UNESCO world heritage site, as a symbol for the decay eating away at virtually every historic piece of Italy. The 2,000-year-old frescoed House of Gladiators was the first to collapse, followed weeks later by a 12-m wall protecting the House of the Moralist.

While Culture Minister Sandro Bondi cautioned against “useless alarmism,” experts worry their worst fears are coming true. “Negligence and a lack of the most basic maintenance is causing irreversible damage to our architectural patrimony,” explains Tsao Cevoli, head of the National Archaeological Association. A culture ministry official confirmed there hasn’t been any systemic maintenance at Pompeii in the last half-century.

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Berlusconi survives confidence vote

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, December 14, 2010 at 11:59 AM - 2 Comments

By a narrow margin, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has survived two confidence votes avoiding the collapse of his conservative government. Berlusconi won by three votes in the lower house, with 314 in favor, 311 against and two abstentions. He also won a confidence motion in the Senate. But he still lacks a clear parliamentary majority, and Italian citizens were not happy with Berlusconi’s victory: protestors clashed violently with police, who fired tear gas, and tens of thousands of people marched through Rome calling for the PM to step down. Although his tenure will end in 2013, it seems he no longer has the margin to govern, and analysts believe he might call early elections in the coming weeks. And while political chaos has become the norm in Italy, the stakes seem higher now given that the markets are intensely focused on Italy’s economic slow growth and high debt.

New York Times

Fightin' words

By Colby Cosh - Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 2:40 PM - 0 Comments

Steve Jobs; Jon Stewart; TTC; Officer Bubbles; Taylor Momsen | Steve Russell/Toronto Star/Getstock; Robert Galbraith/Reuters; Leigh Vogel/Danny Martindale/FilmMagic/Getty Images; Jason Wieler

Conan vs. Leno
The Conan O’Brien-Jay Leno feud began in earnest on Jan. 7, with NBC’s announcement that it intended to give Leno an 11:35 p.m. show and move O’Brien’s Tonight Show to 12:05 a.m. The world gaped at what followed: O’Brien’s public rejection of the deal, his prolonged Viking-funeral farewell from Tonight, the tag-team mockery of Leno by late-night rivals Letterman and Kimmel, O’Brien’s exile from TV, his return, and, inevitably, a book (Bill Carter’s The War for Late Night) about the whole fracas.

Steve Jobs vs. Jim Balsillie
Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie tussled over the future of mobile devices under the looming shadow of Google’s Android operating system. Jobs boasted that the iPhone was beating RIM’s BlackBerry and declared RIM’s PlayBook tablet “DOA.” Balsillie countered with a volley aimed at Apple’s most notorious weakness: “We know that while Apple’s attempt to control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform may be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers want to fully access the overwhelming majority of websites that use Flash.”

Continue…

The charms of the politically incorrect pizza

By Jacob Richler - Thursday, November 18, 2010 at 3:40 PM - 1 Comment

Photograph by David Bagosy

This was my kind of pizza. The casually formed dough of its periphery was blistered from intense heat, while its crumb was well-aerated and surprisingly elastic. Where crust met toppings, the texture grew moist and invitingly creamy. It was also very thin, a mere vehicle for the truffle paste, shredded mozzarella and thinly sliced porchetta—all centred by a whole runny egg. This pizza was not built for sharing, so I ate it all, and swiftly.

That was last week at Pizzeria Libretto, which shares space on a bustling stretch of Ossington Avenue in Toronto with a handful of happening tapas joints and trendy watering holes, some scary Vietnamese karaoke bars, and a few rundown garages. Libretto is unique: it is the only pizzeria in Canada to boast membership in the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN).

“VPN Member 291,” the menu reads. “Vera Pizza Napoletana requires strict adherence to the culinary discipline of the association. A wood-burning oven, San Marzano tomatoes, all-natural fresh mozzarella and double zero flour, along with proper technique, must be used.”

Continue…

The Memory Project – Maurice White, On the front line

By Philippe Gohier - Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 4:00 PM - 0 Comments

Maurice in England at the end of the war and after he transferred to the Canadian Provost Corps | Courtesy of The Memory Project

Click play to hear Maurice White’s complete audio story

Why Maurice White, an infantryman with the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, will never forget the Christmas of 1943.

We went into Ortona under a creeping barrage on Dec. 20. We entered the southern part of the village at night. I think we spent the night in a soap factory. The next morning is when things really started to happen. It took eight days to take the town. We had to go from one room to the other—we’d blow a hole in the side of the house and go in through there because the streets were filled with rubble and machine guns.

Things were kind of slowing down a little bit [by Dec. 25]. I had got a position up in the east of a house, and I had knocked out two bricks, so I could observe the square behind the house. I was eating my Christmas dinner there. They brought up hot food for us, I don’t know how they got it up there, but they did. I think it was hot pork and gravy, mashed potatoes and a bottle of beer. I had taken it up to my lookout post. I shot a German on Christmas Day. At the time, it didn’t bother me. But ever since, you know, I thought, “Why did I do that?” It was Christmas. But you don’t have a choice, you either shoot somebody or they shoot you. When I shot him, he fell, and two German soldiers came out and grabbed him and I didn’t shoot back. I thank God that I didn’t because that would have been even worse to handle.

Newsmakers

By macleans.ca - Friday, October 29, 2010 at 8:00 AM - 0 Comments

A perfect wedding for one
Chen Wei-yih, a 30-year-old living in Taipei, waited for the right man. But he never came along, so in a triumphant gesture aimed in part at upending clichés about unmarried women, she rented a hall, bought a wedding dress and will marry herself on Nov. 6. The Facebook page for “Only&Only’s Wedding” has won her loads of new friends. And yes, there is a honeymoon: Chen will travel with her new, better half to Australia.

Still Wayne’s world
It would have been the biggest English divorce since Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Shaken Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson told a press conference that his star attacker, Wayne Rooney, intended to move to a new professional soccer club instead of renewing his contract. Rooney had quarrelled with his boss over an ankle injury, and told Sky Sports he had concerns over “the continued ability of the club to attract the top players in the world.” The fight raised the possibility of Rooney defecting to a Man U rival—perhaps the most despised of all, Manchester City. But after two days of uncertainty, Rooney relented and signed a deal that will keep him in the famous red kit until June 2015.

He said it once. He’ll say it again.
He has no chance of becoming the next governor of New York, but this gubernatorial candidate’s stump speeches have won him Internet fame, a parody on Saturday Night Live and even a toy action figure based on his likeness. Jimmy McMillan heads a political party called The Rent is Too Damn High Party, and in appearances he hammers away at his party’s one and only platform plank: the rent is too damn high. “Our children can’t afford to live anywhere. There’s nowhere to go,” he said during one televised debate. “Once again, why? You said it, the rent is too damned high.” He even won over front-runner Andrew Cuomo, who during the debate admitted: “I’m with Jimmy: the rent is too damn high.”

Continue…

Italy meets starbucks

By Erica Alini - Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 1:20 PM - 0 Comments

Getty Images

Roughly three decades after Italy’s espresso bars inspired Starbucks founder and CEO Howard Schultz to reinvent American coffee, Frappuccino look-alikes—renamed Frappuccios—are venturing into Italian territory and onto Italian palates.

The country hails espresso as something of a national symbol and has so far eschewed penetration by global coffee titans like Starbucks Corp. Yet Arnold Coffee, a Milan-based start-up, opened its doors a year and a half ago and has been offering caramel mochas, chai lattes and filtered coffee, along with donuts and free Wi-Fi. It has since added two more stores and plans to open a third café in Milan by late October. “We want to be an American-style coffee bar,” said co-owner and founder Andrea Comelli.

But in a country with nearly 136,000 espresso bars (over eight times the roughly 16,700 Starbucks stores in the world), the task isn’t easy. Still, Arnold’s coffee shops are crowded. Some customers love holding onto a big, steaming hot, to-go cup rather than the typical small ceramic espresso cup. Others embrace with gusto the complicated coffee brews. For others still, the lure lies in the comfy armchairs. (In most Italian coffee bars customers are expected to clear the spot after gulping down a few millilitres of espresso.)

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No pregnant nuns, please

By Stephanie Findlay - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 12:00 PM - 0 Comments

An ice cream advertisement has been banned in Italy after complaints from Christians that it was offensive. The ad, which depicts a heavily pregnant nun with the line “immaculately conceived,” prompted 10 complaints to Italy’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after running in the magazines The Lady and Grazia. (Another ad in the campaign features two men in cassocks and clerical collars close to kissing, with the line “we believe in salivation.”)

The ice-cream company, Antonio Federici Gelato Italiano, defended itself against the pregnant-nun complaints, arguing that “conception” described the development of their ice cream. The company also claims that the ads are, in part, meant “to comment on and question, using satire and gentle humour, the relevance and hypocrisy of religion and the attitudes of the Church to social issues.” But the ASA ruled that the pregnant nun ad was “likely to be seen as a distortion and mockery of the beliefs of Roman Catholics,” and banned it. That wasn’t the first time the ASA has had to police the company’s ads. Last year they canned another one that depicted a priest just about to kiss a nun.

A new scandal for the church

By Kate Lunau - Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 11:20 AM - 0 Comments

GIULIO PISCITELLI/AFP/Getty Images

On June 11, before about 15,000 priests gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI apologized for the clergy sex abuse scandal.

On June 28, the Church issued another mea culpa of sorts on a different matter—corruption charges. The Vatican admitted to potential “errors” in the handling of real estate, following accusations that a top cardinal has been implicated in a public works scandal. And it’s got one expert wondering if a “diplomatic tussle” could result over the powers of church and state.

Continue…

Col. Gadhafi adopts a town

By Stephanie Findlay - Thursday, July 1, 2010 at 9:40 AM - 3 Comments

AP/CP/ REUTERS

When Libya’s Col. Moammar Gadhafi took a back-road route to travel to the earthquake-hit province of L’Aquila, Italy, for last year’s G8 summit, he stumbled across a town that he loved so much he’s unofficially adopted it. Wary of structurally weakened tunnels through the main motorway that connects Rome with L’Aquila, Gadhafi had decided to criss-cross through the mountains. His scenic route led him to the tiny town of Antrodoco, where he stopped for a break and was overcome by the generosity of the locals. “You have entered my heart and I won’t forget you,” said Gadhafi to the villagers, La Repubblica reported.

Continue…

Silvio’s messy divorce

By Tom Henheffer - Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 8:20 AM - 0 Comments

Remo Casilli / Reuters

A prostitute and an aspiring model may be about to testify against Silvio Berlusconi, in the embattled Italian prime minister’s nasty divorce proceedings that continue to drag his already tarnished reputation further through the mud. Veronica Lario, Berlusconi’s wife of 19 years, has won the right to call witnesses, and is reportedly planning to bring Noemi Letizia, the model who sparked the separation when the PM attended her 18th birthday party, and Patrizia D’Addario, a former prostitute who claims Berlusconi paid her for sex in 2008, before a judge.

Continue…

Silencing the fat lady?

By Jaime J. Weinman - Thursday, June 10, 2010 at 12:20 PM - 0 Comments

GIUSEPPE ARESU / AP / CP

Many countries are cutting the pay of public employees, but in Italy, those employees carry spears and sing high Cs. Earlier this month, Silvio Berlusconi’s culture minister, Sandro Bondi, announced “austerity measures” for the country’s 14 state-subsidized opera houses. Proposed cuts include a hiring freeze, and measures to hold down musicians’ wages: for example, choristers would no longer get extra money for singing in German. In response, unions called a series of strikes, shutting down productions all over the country. Members of La Scala in Milan took to the stage with a banner reading “No al decreto infame” (“No to the infamous decree”), and the musically named Gianni Timpani, a chorus member at the Rome Opera, told the London Times that cutting arts funding was against the Italian constitution. Most musicians have come out against the subsidy cuts, seeing them as a threat to Italy’s proud operatic culture: Daniel Barenboim, La Scala’s principal guest conductor, fumed that the proposals “will cause enormous damage to the musical life of this country.” But others have argued that overgenerous funding may explain the sinking popularity of opera in the land that invented it; veteran director Franco Zeffirelli told the London Independent that “the state is effectively propping up bad productions.”

Convent con job

By Tom Henheffer - Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 1:00 PM - 1 Comment

Carabinieri

A small group of priests bustling through the streets and buildings surrounding the Madre Cabrini convent in the heart of Milan, Italy, weren’t on their way to give alms to the poor. They weren’t on their way to church. They were watching for drug smugglers, and—underneath the collars and vestments—were actually carabinieri, members of Italy’s national police force. Last week they swapped the cassocks for bulletproof vests, and, with guns drawn, kicked down the convent’s wooden doors. “The nuns were absolutely puzzled,” says Rocco Papaleo, captain of the carabinieri’s investigation unit and head of the team that made the bust. “They can’t get around it. They’re still wondering what happened.”

Continue…

Newsmakers: Feuds

By Jaime Weinman - Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 3:00 PM - 0 Comments

Kevin Smith vs. Southwest
The U.S. airline booted the cult filmmaker off a flight because he was too fat to fit into only one seat. The plane’s employees told the Cop Out director his girth might ruin the experience for his seatmate and prevent “a timely exit from the aircraft.” Smith, a self-proclaimed “fatty,” used his Twitter feed to stir up fan outrage, saying Southwest messed with “the wrong sedentary processed-foods eater!” After hearing from angry Smith fans, airline representatives apologized to him. But they’d never have treated Alfred Hitchcock this way.

White Stripes vs. u.s. Air Force
Rock stars are always protesting when politicians use their songs, but only the White Stripes have the guts to take on the U.S. military. Band members Meg and Jack White decried the U.S. Air Force Reserve’s Super Bowl commercial, which used music eerily similar to their song Fell in Love With a Girl “to encourage recruitment during a war that we do not support.” The air force pulled the ad from its website. Who knew such a powerful fighting force could be defeated by two musicians from Detroit?

Marcia vs. Jan
A planned reunion of the kids from The Brady Bunch was canceled due to sibling rivalry: Maureen McCormick (Marcia) and Eve Plumb (Jan) “did not want to be on the same show.” Plumb is still apparently angry that McCormick’s memoir, Here’s the Story, boosted its sales by implying the two actresses had a brief lesbian relationship. She should bear in mind that the last time she refused to do a Brady Bunch reunion, she was replaced by another actor: Geri Reischl, now known as the “fake Jan.”

Conan vs. NBC
Conan O’Brien’s brief stint as host of The Tonight Show ended with NBC giving him a big cash payment to end his contract, and several episodes featuring expensive props charged to NBC. The catch was, O’Brien could not make disparaging remarks about the people who fired him. But NBC neglected to make such a deal with his sidekick, Andy Richter, who went on Live! With Regis and Kelly to blast NBC’s “short-sighted” planning. Maybe on Conan’s upcoming comedy tour, he’ll be contractually obligated to let Richter do all the talking.

Eric Massa vs. Rahm Emanuel
U.S. Democratic congressman Eric Massa, who resigned his seat for “health reasons” before it came to light he had groped male staffers, claimed he was “set up” by Obama’s ruthless chief of staff. Massa, who voted against Obama’s health care plan, said a naked Emanuel threatened him in the showers at the congressional gym. But when he was invited on Glenn Beck’s show, Massa changed his story, saying he was not forced out. Which can only mean that the Emanuel conspiracy, which has produced so many obsessive articles about Emanuel, has gotten to Massa.

SRC vs. Italians
Radio-Canada aired a comedy sketch in which a stereotypical Italian family, the Jambonis, appears on a game show. The Canadian Italian Business and Professional Association complained to the CRTC and demanded an apology for the “racist” sketch, where the family threatens to put a hit on the host and talk about how influential they are in the Quebec construction industry. CIBPA’s vice-president, Giuliano D’Andrea, argued there must be “limits to freedom of expression.” But don’t take that as a threat.

Helena Guergis vs. Charlottetown
After the federal Tory cabinet minister swore at Charlottetown airport security personnel and said they’d cause her to be “stuck in this s–thole,” an anonymous resident got revenge for the city by publicizing her outburst in a letter, forcing her to apologize. Guergis had been in the P.E.I. capital announcing a federal initiative she claimed would help more women and girls in P.E.I. “reach their full potential.” Which apparently means getting out of there as quickly as possible.

The Fans VS. George Lucas
At last, a movie about how much Star Wars fans hate the Star Wars creator for Ewoks, Jar Jar Binks and more. Alexandre Philippe’s The People vs. George Lucas interviews many disappointed fans, including a band that sings George Lucas Raped Our Childhood. But Philippe, himself a big fan of the original movies, says he still loves Lucas and wants him to “return to his early experimental roots.” You know, like movies about space princesses and robots.