Rome
Legislators from Italy’s socially conservative Christian Democratic Party were scrambling this week to distance themselves from a colleague who was caught in a sex-and-drugs scandal. Cosimo Mele, 50, resigned from his party after a prostitute overdosed on cocaine in his hotel room. Still, he insists he is being unfairly judged. “Of course I recognize Christian values,” Mele said. “But I cannot be branded a bad father and a bad husband simply because after five or six days away from home an occasion presented itself.” The Italian parliament has been embarrassed by a series of accusations that legislators frequently use cocaine. Mele was one of the Christian Democrats who lobbied for mandatory drug testing of members of parliament.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will robots benefit from a sense of touchPodcast Plus, has Donald Trump given centrism a new lease of life? And was it wrong to release the deadly film Rust?
-
The week's best photosIn Pictures A dancing couple, a new pope, and more
-
How to create your perfect bedscapeThe Week Recommends Nighttime is the right time to get excited about going to bed
