Bern, Switzerland
A Swiss newspaper admitted that a sex scandal that brought down an ambassador was a fabrication, and its editor resigned. The tabloid SonntagsBlick originally reported that Thomas Borer, the suave Swiss ambassador to Germany, had sex with a Berlin salesgirl on a conference table in the embassy while his American wife was out of town. Although Borer denied the story, he was recalled from Germany. But this week the salesgirl, Djamila Rowe, said the affair never happened. Rowe said she was blackmailed by a SonntagsBlick journalist who demanded that she claim a sexual encounter took place, or the newspaper would publish nude photos of her. The paper’s editor, Mathias Nolte, resigned. In a correction with the massive headline “Sorry!” the publisher wrote, “Mistakes happen.”
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