US and Russia agree to nuclear cuts

Barack Obama, the US president, has said the US and Russia have agreed to "reset" their relationship after the two countries reached a preliminary deal on reducing their stockpiles of nuclear weapons.

Obama, right, has said he wants to 'reset relations' between Russia and the US (AFP)

Obama said after talks with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, in Moscow on Monday:

 As the world's two leading nuclear powers, the United States and Russia must lead by example, and that is what we are doing here today. This starts with the reduction of our nuclear arsenals.

He said he and Medvedev had agreed that relations between Washington and Moscow had "suffered from a sense of drift".

"We resolved to reset US-Russian relations so that we can co-operate more effectively in areas of common interest.

"Today, after less than six months of co-operation, we have done exactly that by taking concrete steps forward on a range of issues."

The nuclear framework deal commits the two countries to cut the number of nuclear warheads they each hold after the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start-I) expires in December.

"Without any doubt, this is the kind of meeting expected and hoped for on our side and on [the US] side"

Within seven years after this treaty comes into force, and in future, the limits for warheads linked to ... [strategic delivery systems should be] within the range of 1,500-1,675 units," the framework agreement read.

Medvedev said: "There have been a number of problems in recent years - in fact, many problems."

But he said the arms deal was "not only vital for the future of our countries, but will also affect the outlook for world developments in many ways".

"Without any doubt, this is the kind of meeting expected and hoped for on our side and on [the US] side," he added.

Alexander Nekrassov, a former advisor to the Kremlin, told Al Jazeera that Monday's meeting was significant because it marked the start of a "conciliatory tone" from the US towards Russia.

"We are usually used to the American president being tough and the Russians explaining themselves. This is a different approach completely," Nekrassov said.

"Now there are two questions, whether President Obama is conciliatory from the point of view of strength or weakness.

"Obama is playing the right cards. But the problem is how the Kremlin interprets that. They might start thinking that Obama is weak."

Serious challenge

The two presidents also agreed to work towards monitoring the security of vulnerable nuclear material within four years, Obama said.

He said Moscow was also open to discussing how best to address the Iran and North Korea's nuclear programmes, saying: "North Korea has abandoned its own commitments and violated international law.

"That is why I am pleased that Russia joined us in passing a UN Security Council Resolution that calls for strong steps to block North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes."

"Iran also poses a serious challenge through its failure to live up to international obligations.

"This is not just a problem for the United States; it raises the prospect of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East - which would endanger global security - while Iran's ballistic missile programme could also pose a threat to the broader region."

Obama and Medvedev also announced that Russia had authorised the use of its airspace for the transit of US troops and arms to Afghanistan.

The deal will open up a crucial corridor for the US as it steps up its fight against the Taliban in line with Obama's new Afghanistan strategy.

 
Source:  http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/07/200976144939250600.html

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Berlusconi didn't know girls were prostitutes

(China Daily)

Updated: 2009-06-23 08:46

(ROME) A businessman who pimped for the Prime Minister of Italy apologized to the premier for having contributed to a new scandal.

Giampaolo Tarantini said that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi didn't know the ladies of the night 'expenses' were paid.

Three women have told Italian media that they partied at the premier's residence last fall and in January. Tarantini procured the women for the prime minister.

The first, Patrizia D'Addario, who is a high-end prostitute from Bari, told Corriere della Sera last week that she was paid US$1,400 to attend a party in October 2008 at the premier's residence in Rome. She had a sleep over on Nov 4 with Silvio Berlusconi.

Barbara Montereale, also known as 'long thighs' told La Repubblica that she too attended the PM's party, and then another at Berlusconi's Sardinian villa in mid-January.

For that party, Montereale said she received US$1,400 from Tarantini and another envelope with cash from the premier himself after she confided she was having problems raising an infant alone. She stressed she wasn't a prostitute and didn't have sexual relations with the premier. She claims to be a 'hostess.'
>
Both said they were offered candidacies in recent local elections in Bari.

A third woman, Lucia Rossini, told La Repubblica she also attended the Nov 4 party, though she wasn't paid or offered a candidacy. Rossini and Montereale both received jewelry from Berlusconi.

All three have been questioned by Bari police reportedly investigating Tarantini for corruption concerning contracts for his health care business

He said he invited the women to the parties because he wanted to present a "bella figura" - a good impression - to Berlusconi.

"It's absolutely beyond discussion that Premier Berlusconi could have been aware of my reimbursements" to the women, said the Prime Minister's pimp.

www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2009-06/23/content_8311371.htm

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/5603649/Silvio-Berlusconis-parties-Italian-prosecutors-to-question-30-women.html

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Silvio Berlusconi: World Class Lecher

Barbara Montereale, an Italian hostess, said that the Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, gave her 10,000 euros after she attended one of his parties

He has made no secret of his love of women but the sex scandal surrounding Silvio Berlusconi is now threatening to topple him, as more claims emerge of the systematic recruitment of young women paid to attend private parties at his homes in Rome and Sardinia.

Berlusconi was just reelected after weathering a sex scandal with a young lingerie model and another one in which naked people were spotted lounging around his villa. His wife has asked for a divorce and a Vatican cardinal has publicly criticized the prime minister. Opponents within his own party would like to see him replaced.

With weeks to go before he hosts the G8 summit the Italian Prime Minister, 72, is facing new allegations. A Bari escort girl says that she has recorded footage of herself in the billionaire’s bedroom. Now another woman has come forward, this time claiming that she was paid to attend the Prime Minister’s private parties after going through a hostess service, allegedly operated by a local businessman.

In an interview with The Times Barbara Montereale said that Mr Berlusconi gave her €10,000 (£8,500) “as a present” after attending one of his parties at Villa Certosa. She also claims to have received an attendance fee of €1,000, paid by his alleged fixer, Giampaolo Tarantini. Apparently a 'fixer' is an Italian word for pimp.

Miss Montereale, 23, also claimed that Patrizia D’Addario, the escort girl at the center of the scandal, told her she had had sex with Mr Berlusconi.

Speaking from her home in Modugno, Bari, Miss Montereale said she first met Mr Berlusconi when she attended a dinner at the Berlusconi residence in Rome. She was among three women, including Ms D’Addario and Lucia Rossini, another woman from Bari who has also been questioned by prosecutors.

They had been invited and introduced to the Prime Minister, she said, by Mr Tarantini, a businessman from Bari, who is under investigation for corruption and pimping.

“Everyone at the dinner knew Patrizia was an escort,” she said. “I was supposed to be sharing a room with Patrizia at the hotel that night. I slept there alone. When she came back at 8am she told me she had slept with him [Berlusconi] but that he hadn’t paid her because she had asked for a favor instead.”

That favor is alleged to have been help pushing through a building project which had stalled.

“My nickname is long thighs. I am not an escort. I am an image girl, a hostess. Appearing at nightclubs, parties, chatting with clients,” Miss Montereale said.

Asked why the women were invited to dinner, she said: “We were not there because we were all friends. That first time I wasn’t paid, as I went to accompany Patrizia, but after meeting Giampaolo we agreed that for the next parties he would pay me as a hostess. We agreed €1,000, per party, per dinner.”

Mr Tarantini has denied the allegations and publicly apologized to the Prime Minister for having caused “any involuntary damage”. Mr Berlusconi has dismissed the allegations as part of a smear campaign. He has used the smear campaign excuse on several occasions in the past.

Mr Tarantini appeared to “work for the Premier”, Miss Montereale told The Times. “It seemed that Giampaolo was in charge of finding girls to make the whole thing more pleasant for Silvio. He paid us, paid me, with his own money, to please him [Berlusconi].

She is also the first to have admitted a part in the alleged recruitment of young women for the Prime Minister’s parties. Miss Montereale claims to have been invited to Villa Certosa in Sardinia a few weeks after the dinner in Rome.

It was there that she said Mr Berlusconi gave her two envelopes, each containing €5,000, “as a present”, after she told him of her money worries. She also shows fistfuls of butterfly necklaces and bracelets, which it is widely known Mr Berlusconi likes to lavish on female guests who visit him in Sardinia. She named Licia Ronzulli, one of the women Mr Berlusconi proposed as candidates for the European elections, as the “manager” who organizes hostesses’ arrival in Sardinia.

“She was like a secretary. She would say, Barbara you go in that room, to another girl, we’ll put you in that room. She organized the airline tickets.”

Source: Times of London

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