Private television is still dominated by Mr Berlusconi. He is still Italy's richest man, still beset by conflicts of interest, still unfit, even if he were a great reformer, to rule Italy.
Acclaimed Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa, who had been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in January, said he was recovering well, but decided to cancel more concerts to concentrate on treatment.
In 2009 we are farther in time from the end of the Second World War than they were from the Civil War; families still felt the loss of loved ones from that awful national trauma.
Despite the great headway of China's modern seismological study, it is still at its toddling stage, and our policy of seismic mitigation is far from fully-fledged.
Survivors of the Indonesian ferry disaster in which 245 people are still missing told today of their terror as the ship suddenly rolled over, throwing them into the sea in pitch darkness.