"Young, Handsome and Suntanned.”

America may have taken a gigatic racial leap forward this week. The rest of the world, apparently, still has a way to go.

By way of illustration, see this New York Times report on comments by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Then there is Austrian television personality Klaus Emmerich, who has ignited a controversy of his own over "racist comments about Barack Obama, the US president-elect."

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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License to Lie

Adulterous Italian women may now lie about their secret affairs without the fear of being guilty of perjury.

BBC News reports that Italy's highest appeal court has ruled that married Italian women who commit adultery are entitled to lie about it to protect their honour.

The appeal court held that a 48-year-old woman convicted of giving false testimony to police to conceal her secret affair had not broken the law.

Italy’s court of appeal has been in news in the past for a controversial judgment that a woman could not, by definition, be raped if she was wearing tight jeans, since, according to the Court, the jeans could only be removed with her consent. This judgment was reversed after protests by women’s rights groups.

- Shashi K. Raina, Toronto

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Don't Call Him Friday

An Italian court has required that a Genoa couple change the name of their infant son:

"We named him Friday because we like the sound of the name," explains mom Mara Germano. "Even if it would have been a girl, we would have named her Friday."

Just about everyone agrees Friday is their favourite day of the week and they often thank God for it. But even though the now-15-month-old boy was officially baptized with that name, the local government refused to take the day off in their fight against the moniker. When a city clerk spotted the odd name in the records, he told his supervisor about it and put the wheels in motion for a battle that would eventually wind up in the courts.

What reports call an "administrative norm" is applied to all names given to children and a tribunal ruled that Friday breaks the ban against "ridiculous or shameful" designations.

The parents refused to budge and the case went through several courts, before a judge ruled the choice was too similar to the servant in "Robinson Crusoe" and that the child would be subjected to undue taunts later in life. He ordered them to change the name to "Gregory" instead, after a saint whose feast is celebrated on the baby's birthday.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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