italiadaily

According to Italian prosecutors, Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister and now senator of the Italian parliament, must be arrested for six years as evidence of his masterminding a network of prostitution for his sexual needs is a great criminal offense to the country. The prosecutors say that the 76-year old billionaire media tycoon should be banned from holding public office for the rest of his life.

Silvio Berlusconi became Italian Prime Minister and stepped down after the country faced great financial problems.  Technocrat and former Prime Minister Mario Monti replaced him and put Italy’s finances back in order. Berlusconi tried to once again run for prime minister, but was defeated by Enrico Letti during the elections.

Berlusconi faces charges for paying Karima El Mahroug, a Moroccan dancer who worked as a prostitute during the “bunga bunga” sex parties of the 76 year old billionaire. Berlusconi also put pressure on Milan police to release her from detention. However, the billionaire and media tycoon denied the accusations. El Mahroug also said that she never had sex with Berlusconi and never even slept or let him touch her once.

However, the evidence presented by the chief prosecutor, Ilda Boccassini, showed that El Mahroug did sleep with him and gained £3.8 million or €4.5 million euros from the billionaire. She was one of those recruited into the “system of prostitution for the sexual pleasure of Silvio Berlusconi.

All parties, including Berlusconi, attended the trial and the court is expected to announce its final verdict on the case on June 24. If the court convicts Berlusconi, he could recourse to two levels of appeal that could have the case drag on for years.

Source: Telegraph

The Indian Court allowed Italian Marines Salvatore Girone and Massamilian Latore to return to Italy to spend Christmas and the holidays and they have recently arrived back to India to await their court hearing. The Indian court is to process them for allegedly murdering two fishermen in Kerala while on anti-piracy duty in the territory. Amid the Italy-India row, Italy’s foreign minister Giulio Terzi simultaneously resigned as Italian Foreign Minister after the two marines departed for India.

Terzi said his resignation was a move to protect the honour of the country, the armed forces and the Italian diplomacy. He said that he cannot be a part of the Italian government anymore because his reservations about sending back the marines were left on dead ears.

Girone and Latore faces trial in India after shooting two fishermen in the southern state of Kerala on February 2012 while protecting an Italian commercial tanker. The two marines fired warning shots at the boat, which they believed to be a pirate vessel. The incident sparked Italian-Indian rows in between Rome trying to secure a deal to sell helicopters to the Indian government.

Terzi pointed out that the Indian government did not have jurisdiction over the incident because it happened on international waters and not within India’s territory. However, Italy reversed its position after the Italian ambassador to India was held from leaving the country

Source: Guardian

Even if scrutinized by the UK government, legal experts still advise victims to work with personal injury solicitors and/or compensation claims companies to earn compensation. Personal injury lawyers point out that the no win no fee accident claims agreement can help them get the compensation they deserve completely because the representatives can get more for the victims than the basic compensation insurance companies offer.

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APL) said that the encouragement of insurance company Aviva and other industry stakeholders for claimants to claim directly against their insurance companies to reduce the insurance claim premiums by £1.5 billion instantly means they will reduce the amount of compensation victims can receive. The APL said that insurance companies work to compensate their clients, but they create a conflict of interest given that they also need to reduce their overhead costs.

The APL says that a personal injury lawyer can ensure that victims file an accident claim before their three-year deadline and sever accidents may need customers more than three years to recover fully. Claims experts and personal injury lawyers can also guarantee customers earn their potential compensation in terms of psychological, emotional and physical damages, loss of wages, loss of consortium and severe disablement against the offending party.

The group also says that insurance companies received £2 billion in expenses because of the longer life expectancy in most victims and the more advanced medical equipment and technology that could save the lives of victims with proper compensation.

The Financial Services Authority recently fined UK industry giant Lloyds Banking Group for delaying customer PPI repayments. Around 140,000 customers received their compensation from banks after 28 days, 9,000 after 6 months and 24,000 or so claims were, according to the FSA, “inadvertently dropped” from the process.

The FSA said that Lloyds’ PPI repayment system fell “well below the FSA’s standards”. The initial penalty was £6 million, but Lloyds decided to settle the case at an early stage, affording them a 30% discount.

Lloyds is currently the largest UK PPI mis seller having provisioned £5.3 billion for PPI claims, almost half the £14 billion existing compensation package. Next is Barclays with £2.3 bilion, RBS with £2 billion and HSBC with £1.3 billion.

Lloyds apologised to its customers. They said that like all other financial establishments, they underestimated the expanse of the mis selling. Having initially set aside £3.2 billion for compensation in 2011, they did not expect tens and thousands of claims a week. The FSA described Lloyd’s PPI repayment handling as chaotic; employees could not provide a definite date for when customers will receive repayment, or what is causing the delay or fast-tracking of the PPI claims. Sometimes, the employees would make an erroneous PPI template letter or the lack of evidences as reasons but they cannot support these with facts.

The banking group is also compensating certain businesses who purchased mis sold interest rate swap products amid its PPI scandal.

Two Italian Marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, shot two unarmed Kerala fisherman in February last year mistaking them for Somali pirates. The two Italian marines were on board the merchant vessel Enrica Lexie to protect the ship and its crew from pirates. They were arrested right after the incident but were given special leave from court duties to return home for Christmas.

A senior Italian government official stated that the two marines will be returning to India on Saturday although it has not yet been verified. The assurance of Indian lawyer Vijay Bhanu, the marines’ legal representative, is said by the official something to trust as Bhanu is a known responsible individual.

Bhanu’s statement said that the two marines are on board a special flight for Kochi 9 p.m. Indian time and will arrive by 8:30 in the morning in the country.

Italians wanted the two marines to be tried in an Italian court since the incident happened outside the Indian area of responsibility and in international waters. Some also said that charging the two men with murder was harsh; instead, they opted the two to be charged for manslaughter as it is evidently an error in judgment and the two marines may have panicked seeing the fishermen.

The two marines promised their return right after the Christmas season.

Source: The Hindu

You actually lost more than £2750 in repaying for a mis sold PPI, especially if you have owned the insurance policy for more than 10 years, but as soon as you filed your claim, banks already shot it down even if the claim was valid. Working with a no win no fee PPI claims expert is the best option to make your claim successful. But they can only make use of their expertise if you could work together with them in the best way possible.

First, a PPI claims expert is neither a mind reader nor a miracle worker; they will need information from you regarding the details of the claim. They need to know how you were mis sold the insurance policy, the evidences that show that you were not eligible for the insurance and your first billing statement to ensure you get all your compensation. While other claims companies will just pass your claim to the banks to see if you were mis sold the insurance policy, a good claims expert would look into the details and take note of them.

To set up your meetings promptly, you need to find a claims company or a claims expert near your city location, or at least just a 30 minute drive away from your home. You will need regular updates from your claims expert and not just over the phone or online through chatting and emails; you need to know the details personally to get the proper explanation.

If your case is finding difficulties, it is important that you make yourself accessible for the claims expert at a given time that you could propose. They can contact you and tell you about  the progress or difficulties of your claim, which you might have something to provide a solution for. Most of these are some documents that experts skipped that you already have.

A no win no fee PPI claims expert like at the PPIReclaimCo.co.uk ensures that you get quality of service. They really should; if they fail, you don’t need to pay them.

Anna Maria Tarantola, the new head of Italy’s RAI media outfit, says that women were strongly portrayed in TV media as only having “beauty” but not actually showing what talents, knowledge and intelligence they have. The new media boss states that she wants viewers to see women more accurately for their talents and skills, not just because they can wear an outfit nicely while being taped.

Strong observations by feminist documentarists were already featured in 2009′s Italian documentary Il Corpo delle Donne (The Body of Women), which showed clips from RAI and other Italian channels that lowered the view of women to outright disrespect. The clips portrayed them as decorations on set assisting hosts or game show hosts, as well as dancing and wearing scantily outfits. Some outraged women commented on portrayals of women showering onstage on skimpy dresses.

Tarantola raised the feminist issues because of the superficiality of Italian mass media, but other media mainstays, such as the Model Belen Rodriguez, prefers the media situation the way it is. She says that when there’s a beautiful girl on the television, she gains all the attention of the viewers. Rodriguez was last seen on the San Remo Music Festival wearing a daring outfit that slightly indicated she wore no undergarments.

The new media boss of RAI has begun changes by working on new programs for television that would help elevate the portrayal of women to something more than what TV in the past has showed them to be.

Source: BBC

Prosecutors and investigators of the Tuscany shipwreck earlier this year have finally finished their probe on December 20, Thursday. The Concordia Shipwreck, which killed at least 32 people in the Italian coast, had Costa Concordia Captain Francesco Schettino in an Italian courtroom and now in temporary house arrest, with the verdict still waiting for evidence.

Captain Schettino was seen in a tape wherein a port official was angrily addressing and ordering Schettino to return to ship to manage the evacuation of his passengers. The tape showed the captain to be making excuses not to return to the ship. However, the tape never made it clear if he did return to the ship.

The 500,000 gallons of oil on the ship was successfully contained as divers and rescue teams contained the oil spill in a barrier.

The last phone call on deck by Captain Schettino was addressed to the port authorities, with him stating “My career ends here. They will fire me”. Earlier angles of the case involved the ship captain making an error in following the authorized route and was verified by Costa Cruises chief executive officer Pier Luigi Foschi.

The probe collected as much as 50,000 pages of evidence as they wrapped up their operations with court officials. The evidences varied from testimony, phone recordings, the cruise liner’s two black box recordings and expert reports. Schettino risks 20 years of imprisonment if he is convicted of manslaughter and abandoning ship pre-evacuation success. Schettino and seven others are to be indited upon the request of prosecutors.

Source: ABC News

Disgraced Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s Prime Minister for 20 years and billionaire media tycoon, on Tuesday announced his wish to return to his position as Italian Prime Minister. After resigning from his position disgracefully 13 months ago due to his personal and legal scandals, the political figure also resigned because of Italy’s economic downfall due to the Euro zone crisis.

Berlusconi’s return, however, was not given a warm welcome by citizens due to the corruption spread in the Italian Parliament during his reign. However, many citizens did not know that Berlusconi had stepped down as his media empire had endorsed his presence in the country amid the ruling of current Prime Minister Mario Monti.

Monti will soon resign from Prime Minister as Berlusconi’s People of Liberty party had withdrawn support for his economic policies to cut down debt on Italy and ensure progress throughout the Italian debt crisis.

Berlusconi was sentenced to four years for tax evasion and remains on trial for abusing and paying a 17 year old girl for lascivious activities. However, Berlusconi was called on by “pleas” of people to have him return to politics. Upbeat photos of him and his recent terms in office showing his accomplishments were shown in a website made by his allies.

Berlusconi is one of the most important figures of Italian politics but is seen by citizens as someone whose time has already passed.

Source: Tuczon Citizen

Around 20 million payment protection insurance policies were mis sold by banks in the last 10 years, earning them at least £5 billion annually. If you have been mis sold PPI taking out a loan, mortgage or credit card 10 years ago, you might earn at least tens of thousands of pounds for its accumulated interests, which you have also paid. Here’s a few things to know that can make your PPI claim successful.

1. You Bought It

The first billing statement you receive from your bank after paying for PPI should always be present in your claim. Many banks turn away PPI claims due to the lack of the first billing statement. But if you do not have your first billing statement, your loan, mortgage or credit card’s terms of service may state the insurance as a requirement to go with such.

2. Compound Interests

Insurance policies accumulate interests as your limit or personal risk value rises. The higher insurance premiums you pay, the more the interest will rise. The interest rises on a yearly basis. If you’ve taken out your loan, mortgage or credit card 10 years ago, its interest would most likely have risen without you knowing that you have the insurance policy or knowing that you can’t make use of the insurance in the first place.

3. Making a Claim

A letter of complaint should be sent to your bank complete with photocopies of your first billing statement, your transaction’s terms and conditions underlining segments that state your claim’s validity and the calculated compound interests you possibly have. If the bank rejects your claim, you could process it to the Financial Ombudsman or have a claims management company help you sort things out.

Visit www.PPIReclaimCo.org for more information on reclaiming mis-sold PPI.