Much debate followed later over whether the bottle-blonde part-time lifeguard was late with her period.Condemned as voyeuristic by church figures and ridiculed by politicians as cheap TV - a staggering claim given the tacky content of much prime-time viewing - the show exploited its notoriety to maximum effect.Whereas the British version spun around the machinations of Nasty Nick, Grande Fratello has lacked any such Machiavellian contestants. Instead, in quintessentially Italian style, most of the "action" has turned on who is falling in love with whom and dissecting which resident is jealous of another.Viewing figures continued to soar as Marina from Messina, in Sicily, dropped her boyfriend on air and endlessly flirted with one after another of the tenants. Evicted last month, she immediately appeared naked on a number of magazine covers.Pietro undoubtedly became the pin-up star, despite twice voting to evict his former flame Cristina, who has spent most of the past three months crying fitfully. Ironically they find themselves left in the house, along with Salvo the pizza chef from Syracuse, until the very end on Thursday, when one of the three finalists will win 250 million lire, more than £80,000.. Yugoslavia's former dictator, Slobodan Milosevic, is facing his final showdown.
On Saturday Serbia holds parliamentary elections in which his socialist SPS party is expected to suffer a crushing defeat, bringing closer the day when he may be put on trial. Yugoslavia's former dictator, Slobodan Milosevic, is facing his final showdown. On Saturday Serbia holds parliamentary elections in which his socialist SPS party is expected to suffer a crushing defeat, bringing closer the day when he may be put on trial. Opinion polls show the Democratic Opposition of Serbia, the 18-party coalition which supports President Vojislav Kostunica, is likely to win 70 per cent of the vote. The SPS, which reaffirmed Mr Milosevic as its leader after a "people's revolution" ousted him from power in October, is far behind at 20 per cent.
On these figures, the coalition will gain the decisive victory it needs to bring the Milosevic era to an end.For the October revolution was far from complete. While Mr Kostunica took over the presidency, real power resides with the security forces, ministries and state-owned companies of Serbia, which have remained in the hands of Milosevic allies.Despite many changes that would have been unthinkable only weeks ago, such as the establishment last week of full diplomatic relations with Bosnia, the new president has had to tread carefully.But on Friday police arrested Mihalj Kertes, the former head of Yugoslav customs, on suspicion of defrauding the nation of millions of pounds. He was the first close Milosevic ally to be detained, but his former boss may soon be in the dock beside him.Zoran Djindjic, likely to be Serbia's prime minister by next weekend, said Mr Milosevic would face proceedings soon after the election to examine "three issues: election fraud, the issue of his wealth and the way he acquired it, and the question of who ordered the several murders and assassinations [in Yugoslavia]".What this list leaves out are war crimes and genocide in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, for which The Hague tribunal has indicted Mr Milosevic. The US-based Human Rights Watch said Saturday's election should end the international "grace period" for Mr Kostunica.This implies that Western governments should start pressing him on issues such as the release of Albanian prisoners and the extradition of his predecessor and other war crimes suspects to The Hague. But Mr Kostunica is a strong Serbian nationalist who will insist that Yugoslavia can tryits own.The new government is likely to see other matters as more pressing, not least Yugoslavia's economic collapse. Mr Milosevic, shamelessly ignoring his own responsibility for years of corruption and decline, is attempting to blame his successor for power cuts and bread shortages as another freezing Balkans winter sets in.Mr Kostunica is also struggling with the ethnic hatreds bequeathed to him, which have led to armed clashes between Serbs and Albanians near Kosovo.
