Italy richer than Great Britain claims Mr B.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi claimed in a recent Cabinet meeting that with an increase in the country's GDP (PIL, in Italian) Italy has become the sixth richest nation in the world, effectively overtaking and becoming 'richer than' Great Britain.

Mr Berlusconi has this year been the subject of alleged sex scandals involving a 16 year old girl and an 'escort' who was paid for her services in the official PM's residence Palazzo Grazioli. He also lost a battle for legal immunity last month after a ruling by the Constitutional Court.

Italy denies Taleban bribes

The Italian government has denied allegations by The Times of a deal struck with Italian soldiers in Afghanistan and local insurgent groups. The newspaper reports of a Taleban commander from the Sarobi region explaining how the deal was reached — and how it came apart, leading to the fighting in which ten French soldiers died. Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa gave a short press conference in which he stated that the claims were untrue and that The Times had merely reported "trash" (spazzatura) He added that either the Ministry or the Italian government would duly sue for false allegations.
source: reuters

Ancelotti continues with Chelsea success

Chelsea FC's new manager Carlo Ancelotti continues his successful start with the London club with his sixth win in a row on Sunday against Tottenham, securing a maximum 18 points in the Premier League.
The former Parma, Roma and AC Milan player secured a three year contract with Chelsea on 1st July this year and was off to a flying start winning the Community Shield against Manchester United in August. Ancelotti also received praise from fellow Italian, England manager and trainer Fabio Capello. "Fabio is a friend,'' says Ancelotti, "He was my coach for one year in Milan - a fantastic coach. I respect him. We have been opponents a long time". Despite some problems with tenses and vocabularly Carlo's knowledge of the English language has also vastly improved. BBC Sports interview

Muse amuse and confuse!

British rock band Muse confounded Italian TV audiences on Sunday by switching places on their instruments thereby completely fooling presenter Simona Ventura as to their identities. With singer Matt Bellamy on drums, guitarist Christopher Wolstenholme on bass guitar and drummer Dominic Howard on lead vocals a lead guitar the band completed a mimed 'playback' performance of their new single Uprising in the popular Quelli che il calcio Sunday afternoon show.
Afterwards Ms Ventura approached Howard presuming he was the lead singer Bellamy who is married to an Italian and has home near Lake Como. Howard cooly responded to all questions pretending to be Bellamy.
Having interviewed the 'wrong' band member the popular celebrity 'Super Simo' was later ridiculed for her 'ignorance' of current music and as having incompetent staff on the programme who failed to inform her of her mistake, and the band's practical joke.
Ms Ventura was judge on the first 2 editions of the Italian "X Factor" vocal talent show.

Italian minister writes letter to FT

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has written a stiff letter to the Financial Times in defence of PM Berlusconi, his government and his reputation. The letter comes in reply to an FT article by Geoff Andrews published on July 30th entitled "Italy’s problems do not end with Berlusconi".
In the letter Frattini praises Berlusconi for his achievements and for being "democratically elected three times in 15 years". He also states that Italy's foreign policy has earned "worldwide appreciation for its effectiveness" citing the recent G8 summit in L'Aquila and boasts how Italy has increased it's military commitment in Afghanistan with 3,200 troops.

link to letter

Simple Minds saving Venice

Scottish rock band Simple Minds held a concert in St Mark's Square last weekend in favour of "SMS Venice". Proceeds from the concert and from video and audio recordings of the show will all go towards the fund aimed at restoring Venice's precious buildings.

The group's singer and mainman Jim Kerr owns a hotel Villa Angela and estate in Taormina in Sicily.

BSM chooses the Cinquecento

BSM, formerly the British School of Motoring, is ending a 16-year relationship with the company by swapping its basic learner vehicle from the Vauxhall Corsa to the much more modern and dashing Fiat 500.
Fiat will supply 14,000 cars to BSM over four years in a marketing deal that will attempt to inject a bit of Italian styling into a century-old British brand, boosting the motoring school’s image among its younger customers.
source: times.online
Another blow to 'Cool Britannia' and one more in favour of Berlusconi's "better" Italy?? Needless to say this news item was given ample coverage on Italian "TGs"!