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ROME: Italy's Silvio Berlusconi will not provoke a political crisis even if he is convicted next month for having sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of office, his lawyer said on Wednesday."It's a long way from grumbling to a political crisis," Niccolo Ghedini, who represents the former prime minister and is also a lawmaker from his party, told a press conference in Rome."Even if he is convicted, Berlusconi has no interest in a crisis because he helped create the government and wants stability," Ghedini said.The lawyer also accused Berlusconi's enemies in parliament of wanting to "do away" with the billionaire tycoon in parliament because they could not defeat him at the ballot box."He is always resurrecting," Ghedini said.Berlusconi's People of Freedom party has joined with the main centre-left Democratic Party in a grand coalition government formed last month to put an end to a long political deadlock.Ghedini reiterated the ...
WASHINGTON: US officials on Wednesday slammed a campaign of "unrelenting repression" ahead of Iran's presidential elections, and said the outcome would be very hard to predict amid a secret vetting process.The future direction of the next Iranian leadership in ongoing talks with world powers about the Islamic republic's suspect nuclear program was also difficult to determine, top State Department officials told US lawmakers."There are probably some candidates who would be perceived by us as more ...
JAKARTA: Indonesian authorities blamed poor training for a crash in which a rookie pilot undershot the runway and landed in the sea off the resort island of Bali last month, according to a report seen Wednesday.All 108 passengers and crew survived the spectacular April 13 crash, which split the new Boeing 737-800 in two and was a major blow to Lion Air, which has signed record plane orders but is trying to shake off its ...
TUNIS: The Tunisian government has decided to ban the congress of hardline Salafist group Ansar al-Sharia due to take place at the end of this week, the ruling Islamist party's leader said Wednesday."The government has decided to prohibit this congress whose organisers have not obtained prior permission from the authorities as required by law," Ennahda party chief Rached Ghannouchi told a news conference.He was speaking shortly after the Salafist group said tens of thousands of ...
BAKU: A court in Azerbaijan on Wednesday extended the pre-trial detention of two prominent opposition leaders accused of fomenting rare anti-government riots in the tightly-controlled former Soviet state, opposition activists said.Ilgar Mammadov who heads the Republican Alternative (REAL) movement and Tofig Yagublu deputy head of opposition group Musavat were handed an additional three months in jail in closed court hearings in Baku where they are awaiting trial on charges of causing mass disorder and resisting ...
LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday said it had held successful meetings with exiled member India, following its suspension over claims of corruption and political meddling.The Lausanne-based body said its representatives had held "fruitful" talks with India's sports minister, Jitendra Singh, as well as members of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to discuss the country's eventual return to the fold.India's IOC membership was suspended in December after Lalit Bhanot, who is facing corruption ...
MALABO: Police in Equatorial Guinea on Wednesday arrested one opposition politician and dispersed some 200 demonstrators accusing President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo's regime of "maltreatment" ahead of legislative elections scheduled later this month.Gathering in the capital Malabo, demonstrators unfurled banners reading: "Obiang, take your family and leave," and "France, United States, help us get rid of this regime that maltreats us."An AFP reporter said police quickly dispersed the crowd, which had planned to march past ...More Articles...
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