After surviving more than 50 votes of confidence, the embattled Italian Prime Minister lost his majority in Parliament during a routine ballot on Italian public accounts. He was forced to submit his resignation request to the president soon after, after three terms in office.Reuters
After surviving more than 50 votes of confidence, the embattled Italian Prime Minister lost his majority in Parliament during a routine ballot on Italian public accounts. He was forced to submit his resignation request to the president soon after, after three terms in office.ReutersAnother embattled, long-surviving ruler, the ruthless Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, was allegedly executed while escaping his birthtown Sirte, where had been hiding during the last, crucial weeks of the civil conflicts that steeped the north African country with blood.ReutersJames Murdoch, the son of media giant Rupert Murdoch, testified on Tuesday during an inquiry that he was assured on several occasions about the ethics and journalism practice at the News of the World. James Murdoch has since step down from the boards of both News Group Newspapers Limited, publishers of the Sun, and Times Newspapers Limited, following the phone hacking scandal that closed the News of the World.Miguel Villagran/Getty ImagesBlackBerry 10 Devices Set for October?ReutersJon Corzine, former CEO of MF Global Holdings Ltd., testifies about the firm's bankruptcy during a hearing before the U.S. House Agriculture Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday. Corzine apologized to customers, employees, and investors who have suffered because of the brokerage firm's collapse in lengthy remarks, but said he does not know where missing customer money is located. In contrast, independent broker Rosenthal Collins Group attempted to restore customer confidence in the futures market by publishing on its Web site this week exactly where it was holding its clients' collateral, as of Nov. 30.REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstThe pizza tycoon dropped his bid to become president for the Republican Party after the accusations of sexual harassment and of a long-term affair started to emerge. Three women came forward publicly to accuse him of misconduct. Cain always proclaimed his innocence in the strongest term possible, but his gaffes on US foreign policy undermined his credibility and cut his chances for the presidency.ReutersThe Japan-based company, a maker of cameras and medical equipment, was caught in a scandal involving his senior executives cooking the budget books for 13 years in a 1.7 billion dollars scheme to hide investment losses.REUTERSEgyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak's sex tapes tied his hands.ListverseSaleh, who came to power in 1978, is under pressure from all sides to hand over power, but the U.S. and Sausio Arabia have warned that a sudden departure could lead the country to collapse, providing al-Qaida with more political space. In the last few months, the president has given confusing signals about his intentions and pulled back three times from signing a Gulf Arab peace initiative that would have seen him form an opposition-led Cabinet and hand power to his deputy while preparing for early parliamentary and presidential elections. He survived an assassination attempt in June and fled to Riyadh for treatment, only flying back unannounced in September after more than three months out of the country.ReutersThe first victim of the Arab Spring, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali became the second president of Tunisia since the country gained independence from France in 1956. He was one of North Africa’s strongmen, a ruthless, brutal and undemocratic tyrant, friend of the Western governments because tough towards Islamists. He was ousted in a popular revolution in February 2011 and escaped to Saudi Arabia.REUTERSCharlie Sheen waves farewell to the Twitterverse. (Could this caption be any cornier?)ReutersRaf Simons will be taking over as artistic director at Dior, replacing John Galliano who was fired last year after he made some anti-Semitic remarks. Galliano was fired by Dior following his arrest over an alleged anti-Semitic tirade in a Paris bar.REUTERSAfter months of speculation and accusations of favoritism and compromising national security on the part of the Obama administration, Katherine Bigelow's new movie "Zero Dark Thirty" is finally revealed to the public in a new teaser trailer.ListverseGreece's Prime Minister George Papandreou attends a parliament session in Athens June 30, 2011.REUTERS
It has been a bad, humiliating year for dictators, major company brands, American politicians and media mogul. Looking back at 2011, it is easy to trace a pattern from Berlusconi to Jon Corzine without fear to be mistaken.
After surviving more than 50 votes of confidence, the embattled Italian Prime Minister lost his majority in Parliament during a routine ballot on Italian public accounts. He was forced to submit his resignation request to the president soon after, after three terms in office.
Another embattled, long-surviving ruler, the ruthless Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, was allegedly executed while escaping his birthtown Sirte, where had been hiding during the last, crucial weeks of the civil conflicts that steeped the north African country with blood.
The heir of the powerful Murdoch empire, James Murdoch, decided to step down from the boards of both News Group Newspapers Limited, publishers of the Sun, and Times Newspapers Limited, which operates The Times and Sunday Times, following the phone hacking scandal that brought to the closure of the News of the World.
Several scandals hit the mobile company BlackBerry, from the three-day data outrage that affected tens of millions of people in October to the sacking of two executives who allegedly caused a flight to divert allegedly fuelled by alcohol.
Camera maker company Olympus itself was caught in a scandal involving his senior executives cooking the budget books for 13 years in a 1.7 billion dollars scheme to hide investment losses.
Not to forget Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, who was forced to suspend his campaign following accusations of sexual harrassment by three women.
