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Wiretaps disclosed by Italian daily La Repubblica have upset Italian politics. The conversations suggest that state-run RAI and private rival Mediaset, which is owned by Silvio Berlusconi, made arrangements to favour Berlusconi himself when he was Prime Minister of Italy. In these conversations, RAI and Mediaset managers discussed how to present Berlusconi's defeat at the last elections in news programmes and talk shows and the decision to delay announcement of the bad results. This is not the first time Berlusconi has been accused of controll

On Tuesday, the press and members of the National Turkey Federation gathered in large numbers at the White House's Rose Garden in the United States to witness an annual Thanksgiving tradition in the U.S., a presidential pardon of two Thanksgiving turkeys. Every year, a U.S. President gives a pardon to two turkeys, saving them from being put on a dinner table somewhere in America. This year, President George W. Bush pardoned two turkeys named May and Flower, who were both chosen for the pardon by the citizens of the U.S. "Each of you is taking

On November 17, 2007, at the 2007 Trophée Eric Bompard competition in Paris, France, American pair skaters Tiffany Vise and Derek Trent, a mirror pair team, became the first pair skaters in the world to land a throw quadruple salchow jump. The jump was ratified as clean by Technical Controller Ann Hardy-Thomas, and the International Skating Union officially proclaimed it the first in international competition on Monday, November 19th. This jump had been attempted many times in competition before, most notably by Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao of Chin

A Batavia Air Boeing 737-400 has landed safely after a segment of wing up to two metres in size separated from the aircraft 15 minutes after takeoff on a domestic flight between Jakarta, Indonesia and Pontianak late on Wednesday night. Batavia spokesman Anton Situmeang commented that the aircraft, which was carrying 138 passengers and six crew, could have continued to its destination without the part, but had returned for an emergency landing as a precaution. He went on to say that the plane's last major service was only a month or two ago, an

On November 27, the United States will host Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, along with the Members of the Quartet, the Members of the Arab League Follow-on Committee, the G-8, the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and other key international actors for a conference at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Secretary Condoleezza Rice will host a dinner the preceding evening in Washington, D.C., where President George W. Bush will deliver remarks. Presiden

A tree known as the Anne Frank Tree, a 150 year-old chestnut tree that was made famous in the writings of Anne Frank's diary, has been saved from being chopped down by a Dutch court. Frank was a Jewish girl who was hiding from the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II and often referred to the tree as being "comforting" as she looked out the hidden apartment skylight. Officials for the city of Amsterdam and the Anne Frank Museum state that the tree is infected with a fungus and poses a public health hazard as they argue th

As "Brand International Promotion Association" and "Taiwan Excellent Manufacturers' Association" merged to "Taiwan Excellent Brand Association" (TEBA), "2007 Taiwan Brands' Trend Forum", with the slogan of "Winning Global Economic with Taiwan Brands", held yesterday and invited professionals from governmental, financial, and IT industries to share experiences on marketing MIT (Made in Taiwan) brands and encourage MIT brands market to the world by innovations. Newly-elected Chairman of TEBA Andy Tzu-jen Hsieh remarked in the opening: "A product

Scott McClellan, a former White House Press Secretary, says in a new book that George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove, misled McClellan about the Plame leak, leading him to publicly exonerate Rove and Lewis "Scooter" Libby. "There was one problem. It was not true. I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff, and the president himself," says McClellan in a excerpt of the book tha

France's state-owned railway operator, SNCF, said the four main TGV lines serving Paris were sabotaged in what appeared to coordinated pre-dawn attacks. The acts of sabotage included a very large fire, said SNCF. TGV service faced extensive delays on Wednesday, which was exacerbated by the ongoing November 2007 strikes in France. SNCF says that 23% of its workers remain on strike. "These actions are the work of hardliners and show total irresponsibility," said the SNCF, blaming militant strikers. Several smaller fires were started by stuffing

A former accountant for Oral Roberts University (ORU) has filed a lawsuit against ORU and its Board of Regents claiming he was told by Richard Roberts and his wife Lindsay to "cook the books", hiding financial wrongdoing from authorities and the public. Trent Huddleston, the accountant, has filed suit against the school and the Robertses claiming he "was improperly and unlawfully directed to perform functions and duties in violation of state and federal law in an effort by the defendants to 'cook the books' and hide from the appropriate authori

Last night HBO premiered I Am An Animal: The Story of Ingrid Newkirk and PETA. Since its inception, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has made headlines and raised eyebrows. They are almost single-handedly responsible for the movement against animal testing and their efforts have raised the suffering animals experience in a broad spectrum of consumer goods production and food processing into a cause célèbre. PETA first made headlines in the Silver Spring monkeys case, when Alex Pacheco, then a student at George Washington

The labor strikes in France, which began on November 13, 2007, are continuing as hundreds of thousands of civil servants hold a 24-hour work stoppage. The action by postal workers, teachers, air traffic controllers and hospital staff, have left many schools closed and airports facing delays and flight cancellations. The November 2007 strikes in France began when SNCF rail workers and Paris Métro engineers went on strike to protest reforms by President Nicolas Sarkozy, which would reduce early retirement pensions. Under current regulations, ci