Arresting After-Dinner Sex Game Girls, Berlusconi's

They are not the type of photographs that usually emerge from gatherings hosted by heads of state. But these images reveal what goes on behind closed doors at Silvio Berlusconi’s infamous ‘bunga bunga’ parties. The pictures were discovered on laptops and cameras seized from dozens of female party guests as part of an investigation into claims that the Italian prime minister paid for sex with underage girls.
One picture shows TV showgirl Barbara Guerra, 32, wearing a tight-fitting police uniform and pouting as she dangles a pair of handcuffs. Guerra has appeared on an Italian reality TV show and is the former girlfriend of Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli.
Another picture shows two unidentified women about to kiss, while further images capture other female party guests in provocative poses. All were taken in the early hours of the morning at Berlusconi’s home in Arcore, near Milan.
Officials said Berlusconi had ‘ridiculed’ the police and ‘seriously offended’ nurses after it emerged women wore the uniforms as part of stripper acts at the parties.
The phrase ‘bunga bunga’ is said to refer to an after-dinner sex game. The risque photographs form part of the 20,000 page prosecution case against Berlusconi, who will appear in court next month accused of underage sex and abuse of office.
The 74-year-old is alleged to have given money and jewellery in exchange for sex with 17-year-old belly dancer Karima El Mahroug and 32 other women in the space of two months.
Paying for sex with anyone under 18 is illegal in Italy. Berlusconi is also accused of using his power as prime minister to secure the release of Miss El Mahroug when she was arrested for theft last May.
But he has dismissed the allegations, joking that ‘33 women in two months is too many even for me’.

Sentenced to 7 Years For Rape, Ex-Israeli President Katsav

Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav, center, arrives at a court in Tel Aviv, Tuesday. A Tel Aviv court sentenced Katsav to prison for seven years Tuesday following a rape conviction, rejecting his attorneys' request for leniency (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
An Israeli court ordered former Israeli President Moshe Katsav to prison for seven years Tuesday following a rape conviction, rejecting his attorneys' request for leniency and making him the highest-ranking Israeli official ver sentenced to jail.

The silver-haired Katsav remained stoic throughout most of the reading, but he broke down in tears upon hearing his sentence and screamed at the judges: "You made a mistake! It is a lie! The girls know it is a lie!"

As he exited the courtroom, two of his grown sons scuffled with security guards. "I saw you! You hurt my boy!" Katsav screamed. His lawyers vowed to appeal.

In December, the Tel Aviv District Court convicted Katsav, 65, of raping a former employee and sexually harassing two other women who used to work for him. He also was convicted of indecent acts and obstruction of justice. The rape took place before Katsav became president in 2000, while other crimes occurred after he took office.

The three-judge panel, which ruled 2-1, said Katsav's record of public service would not be weighed in his favor, accusing him instead of exploiting his position to become a sexual offender. The court ordered him to report to prison on May 8, giving him time to prepare an appeal. He must also pay fines of about $25,00 and $7,000 to two of his victims.

"The defendant committed the acts like any other person, and he must bear the punishment like any other person," Judge George Kara read from a prepared verdict. "The message leaving this courtroom has to be sharp and clear."

Tuesday's sentencing capped a dramaticfall from grace for a man who rose from humble beginnings to become a symbol of success for Mizrahi Jews, or those of Middle Eastern descent, who for years were an underclass in Israel. The presidency is a largely ceremonial office, typically filled by a respected elder statesman who is capable of rising abovepolitics and unifying the country.

The case has also been seen as a victory for the Israeli legal system and for women's rights in a decades-long struggle to chip away at the nation's macho culture, which once permitted political and military leaders great liberties. Outside the building, a group of women eld signs with a message directed toward female victims of sex crimes, "You're not alone."

The case began nearly five years ago when Katsav suddenly complained that a female employee was trying to extort him. She went to police with her side of the story, and other women came forward with similar complaits of sexual assaults.

Katsav, Israel's eighth president, resigned under public pressure two weeks before his term was to end in 2007. The current president, Nobel winner Shimon Peres, succeeded him.

Katsav repeatedly denied all allegations against him, claiming he was a victim of a political witch hunt and suggesting he was targeted because of his ethnicity. Katsav was born in Iran and immigrated to Israel as a child.

The Israeli public has been riveted by the case's twists and salacious details.

In one memorably bizarre press conference Katsav lashed out angrily at prosecutors and the media for plotting his demise, shaking in anger, waving a computer disk that he said proved his innocence and screaming. Later, he rejected a plea bargain that would have allowed him to avoid jail time.

In December, the Tel Aviv court ruled that Katsav twice raped a woman who worked for him when he served as tourism minister in the 1990s, and assaulted and harassed two other women who worked for him when he was president, from 2000 to 2007. The scathing ruling called him "manipulative" and said his testimony was riddled with lies.

The conviction brought nearly unanimous scorn for Katsav and widespread praise for a legal system that proved itself egalitarian by bringing him to justice. Katsav's supporters, mostly people from his hometown of Kiryat Malachi, have demanded an explanation about why the court chose his victims' versions of events over the former president's.

At Tuesday's sentencing, Kara said Katsav's acts harmed the public's trust in its officials and carried moral turpitude. He acknowledged that the spectacle of a former president going off to jail would be difficult, but necessary to prove that no individual is above the law.

"We can't forget that the accused is not a victim but a victimizer," he said.

Katsav's attorneys have argued that their client did not receive a fair trial because of a hostile climate created by the media. In a minority opinion, Yehudit Shevach said these circumstances and the pain caused to the Katsav family influenced her to recommend a lesser sentence of four years behind bars.

Throughout the reading, the calls of protesters outside the courtroom were heard clearly inside.

A stone-faced Katsav entered the courtroom accompanied by his sons and confidantes and would not address the media. Neither his wife Gila nor his three accusers were present.

He refused to sit in the dock until the cameras left and then erupted in anger upon hearing his sentence.

"Just because someone is quiet doesn't mean he is guilty," he cried. "It's all lies. You have committed a great injustice."

Katsav's attorney, Zion Amir, said the court trampled his client's rights.

"There are those who think the sentencing is a celebration of democracy in Israel. I think it is a sad day, a day of mourning," he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Tzipi Livni each issued statements expressing sorrow for Katsav's fate but respect for the sentencing.

But a Dream Is Life

A man traverses a fishing community in Paotere on Tuesday. Local fishermen at the compound in Makassar, South Sulawesi, say they need financing to expand their business and find decent housing.

To Be Named The World, The Wolf Child Deligthed

Her nicknames may include ‘wolf girl’ and ‘monkey face’.
But 11-year-old Thai girl Supatra Sasuphan today insisted that she was after being officially recognised as the world’s hairiest girl.
Although the schoolgirl from Bangkok has faced merciless teasing at school, Supatra says being given a Guinness World Record for her hair has helped her become extremely popular.
I’m very happy to be in the Guinness World Records! A lot of people have to do a lot to get in,’ she said. ‘All I did was answer a few questions and then they gave it to me.’

Supatra is one of just 50 known sufferers of Ambras Syndrome – caused by a faulty chromosome – to be documented since the Middle Ages. Before the disease was understood, sufferers were branded ‘werewolves.’
She has thick hair growing over her face, ears, arms, legs and back. Even laser treatment has failed to stop the hair growth.
But while most sufferers have been shunned, Supatra has gradually been embraced by her community, and became a popular and outgoing child.

She said: ‘There were a few people who used to tease me and call me monkey face but they don’t do it any more.

‘I’m very used to this condition. I can’t feel the hair as it has always been like this. I don’t feel anything.

‘It does sometimes make it difficult to see when it gets long.I hope I will be cured one day.’

In other ways Supatra is the same as other children her age – she loves swimming, dancing to her favourite music and playing with friends.

But more than anything, Supatra loves perching in front of the TV at her tiny one-bedroom family home in Pranakom, on the outskirts of Bangkok, to watch cartoons.
Supatra has another operation when she was two-years-old and can now breathe normally.

But when Sammrueng and his wife Somphon, 38, brought Supatra home to live with them and their other daughter Sukanya, now 15, they faced more problems.

‘When neighbours first saw Nat they asked what kind of sin I had done. I was very worried about what she would be when she grew up because of other children teasing her,’ he said.

But Supatra’s sweet nature quickly won over people in her community.

Sammrueng, a jewellery maker, said: ‘She gets along with others really well and is very generous. She has a lot of friends.

‘She is just the same as any other little girl her age.

‘But her teeth grow slowly and she can’t see very well.”

Doctors tried to remove the hair with laser treatment when she was two-years-old but despite numerous sessions it kept growing back as thickly as before.

Supatra’s hair has got increasingly thicker as she has grown up so her mother has to cut it back regularly for her.

She uses baby shampoo to wash her hair as she is allergic to stronger brands.

Sammrueng said: ‘I still hope one day she will be cured. We will do anything we can if it will help her.’

Gadhafi Supports Peace Proposal, Venezuela

Moammar Gadhafi supports a plan proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to help mediate a peceful resolution to the crisis in Libya, a Venezuelan official said Thursday.



Information Minister Andres Izarra said on Twitter that Venezuela’s foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, spoke with his Libyan counterpart, who in Gadhafi’s name confirmed his government’s support for the peace initiative proposed by Chavez.



“Libya’s official acceptance of Chavez’s peace proposal is news that we believe raises hopes for the possibility of a negotiated and peaceful way out of the conflict,” Izarra told The Associated Press in a response to e-mailed questions.



However, other countries ranging from the United States to Italy dismissed Chavez’s proposal as the wrong approach. And Gadhafi’s opponents have shown no openness to talks as long as he remains in power.



“You don’t need an international commission to tell Colonel Gadhafi what he needs to do for the good of his country and the good of his people,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters in Washington. “He should step aside, and for the good of his people, he should stop attacking them.”



Chavez has called Gadhafi a friend, and the two share some socialist political ideas as well as their opposition to Washington. Chavez has said he will not cave to international pressure to condemn Gadhafi for his government’s crackdown on protesters.



Izarra has said Chavez spoke with Gadhafi earlier this week about creating a bloc of friendly countries to help mediate. Izarra said on Twitter that several Latin American and Caribbean foreign ministers will discuss Chavez’s peace proposal at a March 11 meeting of the Bolivarian Alternative bloc, or ALBA.



“Let’s talk about peace for Libya. Negotiated ways out,” Izarra wrote. And in an apparent reference to any possible U.S. military involvement, he said: “Let’s keep the invading eagles away.”



Crowley said any effort to resolve the Libya crisis peacefully deserves consideration. But if Gadhafi isn’t “responding to the many calls across the international community to step down, it is uncertain to me what an international commission is going to accomplish,” he said.



Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that the proposal as he understands it would leave Gadhafi in place, and as a result is unacceptable.



The head of the Cairo-based Arab League – also contacted about Chavez’s proposal – seemed cool to the idea. League spokesman Hisham Youssef said the idea was still not clearly drawn out and added that any mediation must “take into consideration the aspirations of the Libyan people” – an apparent reference to those who have joined the uprising against Gadhafi.



Outside the Libyan Embassy in Caracas, meanwhile, a group of protesters condemned the Libyan government’s attacks on civilian protesters and shouted anti-Gadhafi chants such as: “Get out dictator, murderer of your people!”



Diego Arria, a prominent Chavez opponent and former Venezuelan U.N. ambassador, led the group of about 30 protesters and called Chavez’s mediation proposal “totally absurd.”



Chavez has accused the United States of exaggerating events in Libya to “justify an invasion,” and has said he sees parallels between the situation faced by Gadhafi and a 2002 coup that he survived in Venezuela. In a televised speech Thursday night, Chavez said: “Let’s hope they don’t invade Libya.”



In Ecuador, President Rafael Correa echoed Chavez’s stance, saying he would never support any military intervention in Libya.



Speaking to the television station Telemar, Correa also expressed misgivings about the decision to suspend Libya from the U.N. Human Rights Council. He said he was troubled by the “international double standard, because every sanction against Israel is blocked by the United States” when the Israeli government is accused of violating human rights.



Chavez has built a close relationship with Gadhafi during his 12 years in office. In 2009, Chavez attended anniversary celebrations in Libya marking Gadhafi’s 40 years in power, and later that year Gadhafi pitched his Bedouin tent on Venezuela’s Margarita Island during his first visit to Latin America.



Chavez has suggested a “goodwill commission” should be sent to Libya to try to ease the conflict. But how such a delegation might function in the absence of dialogue between Gadhafi and his opponents is unclear. An opposition spokesman in Libya, Mustafa Gheriani, ruled out any negotiations with Gadhafi, saying “his hands are tainted with blood.”

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Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper in Washington, Nicole Winfield in Rome, Fabiola Sanchez and Christopher Toothaker in Caracas, and Gonzalo Solano in Quito, Ecuador, contributed to this report.

American Idol 13 Finalists

American Idol” picked its 13 finalists on Thursday, ending a week that saw the field of 24 semifinalists cut nearly in half.

Ten of the spots in the final baker’s dozen went to the top five vote-getters of each gender. The remaining three were wild-card selections from the judges, who made some unconventional selections.

It would have been very easy to choose Kendra Chantelle and Robbie Rosen, both of whom were among the six selected to sing for their lives one final time (as host Ryan Seacrest so ably exaggerated). Both look the part of an “Idol” contender, and presumably could be shaped to sound that way as well once music exec and “Idol” mentor Jimmy Iovine and his team of polishers gets to work with them.

Instead, the judges used one wild-card spot for Naima Adedapo, the 26-year-old with the huge voice. She’s older and has a jazzier sound than the typical woman who advances, and could easily go out next week. But if Crystal Bowersox can make the finale a year ago, there’s no reason Adedapo couldn’t make a run as well.