Notorious Vandal Strikes Again - The Florentine

6
Thursday 20 October 2005
National NEWS
News in BRIEF
Security Measures Threaten
Businesses
According to Italy’s anti-terrorism policies,
companies offering public communications
services are obligated to
make photocopies of the passports
of customers who use the Internet,
phone, or fax. Although recent legislation
also included measures to increase
transportation security, permit
DNA collection, and facilitate the detention
and deportation of suspects,
the average citizen is mainly feeling
the law’s effect in Internet cafes. The
owners of these cafes around Italy are
blaming a 10 percent loss in business
on these new “passport laws.” But, Italy
claims that its new policies have led
to the arrest of Hussein Osman, one of
the men behind the failed bombing of
the London Underground in July.
Finding Where Your Fowl is From
Starting this week consumers will be
able to know exactly where their drumstick
has been. In compliance with
a new decree issued by the Italian
Ministry of Health, all foodstuffs containing
fowl (chicken, turkey, pigeon,
pheasant, quail or wild birds) must
be specifi cally labelled. This new law,
valid until December 31 st 2007, was
issued in response to the outbreak of
the chicken virus throughout the world.
Shoppers will be able to know where
their fowl was born and raised, as well
as the date and place of butchering
and sectioning. Large fi nes will be issued
to producers who fail to comply.
Counterfeit Concerns
Counterfeit goods continue to pervade
Europe. Each year over a 100 million
products are sequestered by customs
offi cers. Along with DVDs, and
faux brand name clothes and bags,
sequestered goods include anything
from pharmaceutical products, face
cream, mineral water with false labels,
toothpaste, and spare car parts. Studies
show a 1000 percent increase
in imported counterfeit goods since
1998. At least 60 percent of these illegal
wares come from China. The European
Commission is currently evaluating
strategies on how to respond to
the growing infl ux of these items. New
policies seek to increase protection
of member countries, make customs
relations more effective, and increase
international co-operation. Italy, whose
economy is largely affected by the
importation of counterfeit goods, supports
the new initiative.
Prodi Takes Primaries
Centre-left supporters turned out en
masse on Sunday for unprecedented
‘primary’ elections organised by the
centre-left opposition to choose the
coalition’s leader for next spring’s
general elections. Former European
Commission Chief Romano Prodi
emerged as winner against six other
centre-left candidates. Well over
three million people cast their ballots
at 9,731 voting booths set up across
the country. Voters were asked to
sign a form saying they support the
opposition’s agenda and offer one euro
as a contribution to the costs of the
ballot. Prodi hailed the massive turnout,
saying it went “beyond expectations.
It’s beautiful, incredible. This is a great
celebration of democracy at work.”
News
Fiat Family Nightmare
Heir to Automobile Dynasty
Hospitalised for Drug Overdose
The heir to the Lapo Elkan
Agnelli business
dynasty and a
vice-president of Fiat
Auto SpA, Lapo Elkann,
was hospitalised in Turin
recently for a drug overdose.
Doctors affirm
that the Fiat manager
has suffered no brain
damage. Elkann, 28,
the grandson of the
late Fiat patriarch
Gianni Agnelli, heads Fiat’s Brand
Promotion division. Three Fiat security
guards stood watch on Tuesday
outside the hospital building where
Elkann is being treated. Police said
he was suffering from the effects of a
cocaine overdose.
Later newspaper reports claimed
he had taken a potentially lethal
cocktail of heroin and cocaine,
washed down by alcohol. In its only
statement on the case, Fiat said the
manager had “respiratory problems
caused by medication.” Possession
of small amounts of cocaine for personal
use is not illegal in Italy .
Lapo has successfully
launched new
sportswear and leather
lines with the Fiat
logo to enhance the
car maker’s image.
He often attends soccer
matches of family
club Juventus with
other members of the
Agnelli clan. Italy’s
leading engineering
union, Fiom, stressed
on Tuesday that the case would not
affect the company .
The Agnelli’s social and personal
lives have fascinated Italians for
decades, much the way the British
royalty’s doings fill the pages of
British tabloids. Agnelli family tragedies
have elicited comparisons to
those of the Kennedy dynasty in the
United States. Lapo Elkann’s uncle,
Edoardo, the son of Gianni Agnelli,
died in 2000 in an apparent suicide.
An elder cousin, Giovannino, who
had been prepared to take over Fiat,
died of cancer at age 33 in 1997.
Following in Daddy’s Footsteps
Premier’s Daughter Named Italy’s
Most Powerful Woman
Marina Berlusconi, Italian
Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s
eldest daughter, continues
to draw international press attention
nearly a week after she was named
president of the family’s media
empire. A feature in French daily
Le Monde followed similar articles
by The Financial Times Deutschland
and AFP, the latter of which
set the tone with a piece entitled:
“The Most Powerful Woman In
Italy.” Marina Berlusconi, 39, was
appointed to head the family’s holding
company Fininvest on October
4, following the death of the group’s
former president Aldo Bonomo.
“Already considered one of the most
powerful women in the world, Maria
Elvira Berlusconi, known as Marina,
is set to move farther up the annual
classification of Forbes and Fortune
magazines,” wrote the French daily .
“A determined manager, she is
both feared and respected. Even
a close family friend, (journalist)
Emilio Fede [...] recently confessed:
‘I would never go to her to ask her
for a raise.’” Berlusconi’s appointment
came as no surprise. She
served as Bonomo’s deputy for more
than nine years and had been tipped
as his replacement by inside sources
following his death on August 31.
Marina Berlusconi
Her new position puts her in
charge of a vast business empire,
encompassing advertising, movie
distribution, television, books, magazines,
directory enquiries, insurance
and pensions. Fininvest, which also
owns the AC Milan soccer club, is
one of Italy’s largest enterprises, valued
at around 17 billion euros and
generating some five billion euros
annually .
Fininvest’s new president entered
the group at the age of 25. Although
she had spent summers interning at
its various subsidiaries since the age
of 15, she was only introduced to
the daily running of the business in
her late 20s, after dropping out of a
degree in politics and international
relations.
She has chaired Fininvest’s publishing
company Mondadori, Italy’s
largest publisher, since 2003 . Last
year, the premier’s eldest offspring
was ranked at number 9 on Fortune
magazine’s list of the 50 most influential
women executives.
www.theflorentine.net
TRENITALIA
INFESTED
Police Investigate
Unsanitary Conditions
of Railway Cars
desperate passenger feels
A forced to set his coat on
fi re, throwing it onto the tracks
to exterminate train bedbugs. In
a recent journey of the Euronight
Train from Nizza to Naples, 150
angry passengers complained
about the thousands of bedbugs
infesting several of the train’s
coaches. In order to prove their
point several passengers collected
the bugs (originally thought to
be ticks) in water bottles to show
to train personnel. The train was
stopped at the Genova station
where several coaches were later
isolated on one of the station’s
dead tracks. Two other cars were
simply closed-off and continued
empty for the remainder of the
journey.
Fifteen passengers, under
shock, refused to continue their
trip on the same Intercity train.
According to Trenitalia, the
bedbugs originated in France.
In addition to the hypothesis of
low standards of cleanliness,
investigators are also considering
the possibility of sabotage.
Police are investigating whether
tension amongst employees over
Trenitalia’s refusal to renew contracts
may have provoked violent
reactions from employees.
With regards to cleanliness,
the railways have declared that
2,800 cars used for long and
medium runs have recently
received a clean bill from hygiene
specialists. Although Trenitalia
confi rms that fi ve thousand
coaches were disinfected from
September 1 to 23, this is the
fourth case of passenger protests
against insect infestation,
particularly during long-distance
runs. The CUB train workers
union claimed the infestations
were the result of cutbacks in
cleaning crews — from seven to
three people. In response to the
latest protest Trenitalia states,
“Trains won’t be allowed to leave
stations if they don’t reach a certain
standard of cleanliness.”