Rajaratnam gives detailed denial of insider charges
By Jonathan Stempel and Grant McCool NEW YORK (Reuters) – Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, accused in one of the biggest insider trading cases ever, on Tuesday gave a detailed denial of the charges and said government wiretaps violated his constitutional rights. Twenty people, including the Sri Lankan-born billionaire, face criminal charges, civil charges or both in an investigation in which court-approved wiretaps were used in a Wall Street insider trading probe for the firs

Prostitute Claims Berlusconi Offered Help With Inn
By the Associated Press ROME (AP) — The prostitute at the center of Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s sex scandal claims in a new book that she slept with him on the understanding he would help her set up a countryside inn but she got ”nothing” in return. Patrizia D’Addario, whose memoir went on sale Tuesday in Italy, writes she feels betrayed and has been frightened by strange threats, including the ransacking of her home, since she

Rolling Stone names Silvio Berlusconi ‘2009 rock star’
By BBC The music magazine pays tribute to the 73-year-old media mogul’s “lifestyle worthy of the greatest rock star”. Its December issue’s front cover carries an illustration of him smiling in front of the Italian tricolore. The magazine’s editor, Carlo Antonelli, said: “Rod Stewart, Brian Jones, Keith Richards in their prime were schoolboys compared to him.” Read More:

Oprah Winfrey’s impact felt around the world
By JILL LAWLESS (AP) LONDON — It’s the talk show talked about around the world. Oprah Winfrey’s announcement last week that she will end her daytime TV program after its 25th season in 2011 made headlines from London to Johannesburg. Audiences for the show might be smaller outside the United States, but the whole world knows Oprah â

Dreamworks Hold on Hollywood Democrats Continues into the Obama Era
Gawker, Richard Rushfeild The White House is set to announce the guest list for its first state dinner, and among the few invitees from Hollywood are Messieurs Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen, sealing the DreamWorks trio’s rep as any Democratic President’s BFFs in Hollywood. Sitting at the head of the political table in a one-party town is no mean feat, and for the men of Dreamworks, their lock on that much-contested position now looks to set to run into its third decade. Throughout the Clinton era, the