Cameron Promises Britons a Referendum on E.U. Membership

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Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain speaking in London on Wednesday.

LONDON — Prime Minister David Cameron promised Britons a decisive referendum within five years on membership in the European Union — provided he wins the next election — in a long-awaited speech on Wednesday whose implications have alarmed the Obama administration and are likely to set the markers for an intense debate in Britain and across Europe.

“It is time for the British people to have their say. It is time to settle this European question in British politics,” he told an audience in London, raising fears in capitals as distant as Washington that a ballot could lead to Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.

His pledge drew a sharp response from European leaders who accused Mr. Cameron, in the words of a senior German politician, of trying to “cherry-pick” the economic benefits of E.U. membership without subscribing to the broader European project. Politicians in France and Germany said Britain could not have “Europe à la carte.”

The United States has been unusually public in its insistence that Britain, a close ally, stay in the union, fearing its departure would heighten centrifugal forces that would weaken Europe as a diplomatic, military and financial partner.

President Obama recently told Mr. Cameron by telephone that “the United States values a strong U.K. in a strong European Union, which makes critical contributions to peace, prosperity and security in Europe and around the world,” a spokesman said.

Mr. Cameron coupled his promise of a referendum with an impassioned defense of continued membership in a more streamlined and competitive European Union, built around its core single market underpinning the body’s internal trade. But he acknowledged the risks, saying any exit from the European Union “would be a one-way ticket.”

“I know there will be those who say the vision I have outlined will be impossible to achieve. That there is no way our partners will cooperate. That the British people have set themselves on a path to inevitable exit. And that if we aren’t comfortable being in the E.U. after 40 years, we never will be,” he said. “But I refuse to take such a defeatist attitude — either for Britain or for Europe.”

“And when the referendum comes,” he said, “I will campaign for it with all my heart and soul.”

The speech was a defining moment in Mr. Cameron’s political career, reflecting a belief that by wresting some powers back from the European Union, he can win the support of a grudging British public that has long been ambivalent — or actively hostile — toward the idea of European integration.

“We have the character of an island nation — independent, forthright, passionate in defense of our sovereignty,” he said. “We can no more change this sensibility than drain the English Channel.”

Coming a day after the leaders of France and Germany met in Berlin to celebrate a half-century of sometimes uneasy partnership, Mr. Cameron’s plea for acknowledgment of British distinctions seemed to reflect some of the deepest political and philosophical differences between London and Continental Europe on integration.

France wants Britain to stay in the European Union, both as an ally in security matters and as a counterweight to Germany. But France is also outspoken in its refusal to allow Britain to pick and choose its obligations. Paris objects not so much to a British refusal to take on new obligations, especially since Britain does not use the euro, as to any effort to repatriate powers already ceded to Brussels.

The French concern, shared by many others in and out of the euro zone, is that Britain will undermine one of the great, if unfinished accomplishments of the European Union, the single market in goods and services.

“You cannot do Europe à la carte,” said Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius of France. “Imagine the E.U. was a soccer club: once you’ve joined up and you’re in this club, you can’t then say you want to play rugby.”

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who is often sympathetic to Mr. Cameron’s criticisms of European Union excesses, said she and her country viewed Britain as “an important part and an active member” of the European Union. The E.U., she said, “has always meant that we should find fair compromises.”

Steven Erlanger and Scott Sayare contributed reporting from Paris and Victor Homola from Berlin.

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County official calls car leasing contract procedure 'embarrassing'

Auditors reviewing a $1.75-million car leasing contract given to a company with a politically connected lobbying firm found that Los Angeles County officials had failed to create a "truly competitive" process, but that there was no evidence of improper influence.

Investigators with the county auditor-controller's office reviewed the Enterprise Rent-a-Car contract at the request of Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. A report by KCET-TV had raised questions about the way the business was awarded.

Enterprise was given a sole-source, five-year deal in March to provide 60 leased  vehicles to the county's Community Development Commission and to maintain the agency's existing fleet. Commission staff projected that outsourcing the fleet services would save about $300,000 a year.

The Nov. 28 report on KCET's "SoCal Connected" focused on the lobbying firm Englander Knabe & Allen and questioned whether its clients — including Enterprise — got an unfair advantage because partner Matt Knabe is the son of county Supervisor Don Knabe, who voted along with all the other supervisors to award the contract.

Both Knabes have said that their relationship has never posed a conflict, and a spokesman for the Englander firm has said Matt Knabe never lobbies his father directly.

The auditor-controller found no evidence of attempts to influence the rental car award. Matt Knabe told investigators that no one from his firm had lobbied on the contract, and the commission's executive director said he was "100% confident" the supervisor's son did not influence the process.

"The report shows that Matt acted professionally and used no undue influence in his dealings with the county," said Englander partner Eric Rose.

But the review did find that county staff did an "inadequate" job of trying to find other potential bidders.

Asked by KCET what vendors had been contacted and given a chance to compete for the business, a county analyst created a list to make it appear the department had reached out to 50 companies. In fact, only 16 firms had been contacted, auditors found. Enterprise was the only company that responded to the email request, and staff made no follow-up attempt to contact the other firms.

According to the auditor's report, the count of 50 vendors was originally used as a "place holder" in a template document and never corrected. By the time the contract was awarded, the contract analyst "felt he could not correct the number without embarrassment."

Investigators also found that the agency violated its own policy by not advertising the contract on the commission's or the county's websites, and that the contract should have gone through a full bidding process.

In addition, several vendors that contract officials emailed to invite interest had no "realistic potential" to provide a leased fleet to the county in the first place, the review concluded.

Investigators wrote that they couldn't determine whether the commission could have gotten a better deal but said "the potential for greater savings from a more competitive process appears to be plausible."

County auditor-controller Wendy Watanabe called the situation "embarrassing" but chalked up the issues to incompetence rather than intentional steering.

"I think they got lazy, they took a shortcut, and they didn't think it was that big of a deal," she said.

Watanabe said the investigation had focused on the Enterprise contract, so she could not say whether there was a broader issue with the agency's contracting process.

Commission representatives could not be reached Monday. The commission was slated to respond to the report's findings within 30 days.

abby.sewell@latimes.com

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Canada wants RIM organic growth, may have to review handset sale

OTTAWA (Reuters) – The Canadian government wants BlackBerry maker Research in Motion to continue to be a global leader and grow organically, and Ottawa may have to review a future sale of its handset business, Industry Minister Christian Paradis said on Tuesday.

“We hope to see RIM remain a global leader and player, and make sure it grows organically,” Paradis told Reuters by phone from Germany, where he is meeting with industrial leaders.

He also said the government did not intend at present to open up Canada’s telecommunications sector further to foreign investment.

(Reporting by Randall Palmer Editing by W Simon)

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Sundance 2013: Relativity Acquires Joseph Gordon-Levitt-Directed ‘Don Jon’s Addiction’

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – Relativity Media has acquired Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut “Don Jon’s Addiction” for $ 4 million, an individual with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap.

The film premiered at Sundance on Friday to great fanfare, and several distributors have been bidding for it.

Relativity won out with a substantial financial commitment and plans for a wide theatrical release this year. It will support the movie with prints and advertising, with the commitment at $ 25 million, an individual told TheWrap.

That would make it the biggest deal from the festival so far.

The film follows Gordon-Levitt – who also wrote and stars in the film – as a lady’s man with a porn addiction. Dissatisfied with his life, he sets out on a Don Juan-esque quest to find love and a more satisfying sex life.

Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Rob Brown, Tony Danza and Glenne Headly also star in the film.

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Well: The Appetite Workout

Every January, many people start working out, hoping to lose weight. But as studies attest, exercise often produces little or no weight loss — and even weight gain — and resolutions are soon abandoned. But new science suggests that if you stick with the right kind of exercise, you may change how your body interacts with food. It’s more than a matter of burning calories; exercise also affects hormones.

A 2012 study from the University of Wyoming looked at a group of women who either ran or walked and, on alternate days, sat quietly for an hour. After the running, walking or sitting, researchers drew blood to test for the levels of certain hormones and then directed the women to a room with a buffet. Human appetite is complicated, driven by signals from the brain, gut, fat cells, glands, genes and psyche. But certain appetite-related hormones, in particular ghrelin, which stimulates hunger, are known to be instrumental in determining how much we consume.

Studies have shown that exercise typically increases the production of ghrelin. Workouts make you hungry. In the Wyoming study, when the women ran, their ghrelin levels spiked, which should have meant they would attack the buffet with gusto. But they didn’t. In fact, after running they consumed several hundred fewer calories than they burned.

Their restraint, the researchers said, was due to a concomitant increase in other hormones that initiate satiety. These hormones, only recently discovered and still not well understood, tell the body that it has taken in enough fuel; it can stop eating. The augmented levels of the satiety hormones, the authors write, “muted” the message from ghrelin. Sitting and, notably, walking did not change the blood levels of the women’s satiety hormones, and the walkers overate, consuming more calories at the buffet than they had burned.

A related study published in December looked at the effects of moderate exercise, the equivalent of brisk jogging. It found that after 12 weeks, formerly sedentary, overweight men and women began recognizing, without consciously knowing it, that they should not overeat.

Researchers gave volunteers doctored milkshakes. Some contained maltodextrin, a flavorless sweetener that packed 600 calories into the drinks. The others, without maltodextrin, had 246 calories. Before beginning the exercise program, the volunteers ate more at a buffet lunch and throughout the rest of the day after drinking the high-calorie shake than when they were given the lower-calorie version. Their appetite regulation was out of whack.

But after three months of exercise, the volunteers consumed fewer calories throughout the day when they had the high-calorie shake than the lower-calorie one. Exercise “improves the body’s ability to judge the amount of calories consumed and to adjust for that afterward,” says Catia Martins, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, who led the study.

But not all exercise. Running, it would seem, better hones the body’s satiety mechanisms than walking. And longevity counts. You need to stick with the program for several months, Martins says, to truly fine-tune appetite control.

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DealBook Column: Prophesies Made in Davos Don't Always Come True

You’re going to be hearing a lot of predictions over the next several days. Be leery.

Some of the world’s biggest names in business and politics are descending on the snowy enclave that is Davos, Switzerland, for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, which begins Tuesday evening. They are there to talk big ideas — and perhaps more important, to rub elbows and do business over Champagne and cheese fondue. (Yes, I’ll be there, too.)

Invariably, there will be panel discussions filled with provocative prognostications about the state of the economy, politics, technology and an assortment of other issues. But if you’re looking to the Alps for the wisdom of crowds, the wisdom of this crowd of the global elite may not be the most accurate.

The predictions that have emanated from Davos always have a ring of plausibility to them, in part because of the credibility of the speakers. But all too often they fall short.

Here is just one example: Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and global philanthropist, has made the pilgrimage to the Alps for more than a decade and made a series of somewhat famous — or infamous — predictions.

When asked about Google back in 2003, he didn’t have an upbeat outlook on the company’s future nor its founders.

“These Google guys, they want to be billionaires and rock stars and go to conferences and all that,” Mr. Gates said. “Let us see if they still want to run the business in two to three years.” (Larry Page, a co-founder, is the chief executive.)

And the next year, Mr. Gates followed up that prediction with this marvel of what the future would look like: “Two years from now, spam will be resolved.” (If only.)

Broader predictions about the economy have been even more miss than hit. In 2011, ahead of what turned into a full-blown economic crisis in Europe that threatened the existence of the euro, Christine Lagarde, the French minister of finance at the time, declared: “I think the euro zone has turned the corner. Let’s not short Europe and let’s not short the euro zone.” (If you had bet against the euro zone then, you would have made a small fortune.)

And it is not just recent predictions that have been, for lack of a less polite word, off. Abby Joseph Cohen, the longtime Goldman Sachs market analyst, announced in Davos in 2000, at the height of the technology bubble, that she expected a big year for stocks, with the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index gaining 10 percent. Of course, the S.& P. 500 did nearly the opposite, falling 9.1 percent that year, followed by two more years of declines that totaled a 34 percent drop. (In fairness, Ms. Cohen revised her prognosis several months after her trip to Davos and told her clients to sell stocks.)

How’s this for an anti-prescient panel? In 2001, the World Economic Forum put together a panel on “the shape of the 21st century corporation.” Among the headliners were Ken Lay, the chief executive of Enron; Carleton S. Fiorina, the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard; and David H. Komansky, the chief executive of Merrill Lynch. (We know how their tenures turned out.)

In 2006, about a year and half before the credit crisis was upon us, Martin Halusa, the chief executive of Apax Partners, declared that he expected to see a private equity fund of $100 billion within a decade.

News flash: private equity funds have become smaller, not bigger. He has three years to see his prediction come true, so stay tuned.

And then there was Davos 2008, about eight months before Lehman Brothers collapsed and the global economy spiraled downward. What did C. Fred Bergsten, senior fellow and director emeritus of the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, have to say about the state of the economy? “It is inconceivable — repeat, inconceivable — to get a world recession.” (A year later, he defended his words, saying, “through the first three quarters of last year, my prediction was correct.”)

That’s not to say every prediction said in Davos is wrong. Nouriel Roubini, known as Dr. Doom, announced in Davos in 2007, “The risk of some crisis happening is rising.” And while he turned out to be right, he was roundly criticized for being too pessimistic by Michael Lewis, who wrote a critical piece about doom and gloom of some academics. His piece was titled, “Davos Is for Wimps, Ninnies, Pointless Skeptics.”

Did Mr. Roubini really know the full extent of the crisis brewing? Of course not. But directionally, he was correct.

Having said that, he was back playing Dr. Doom last year in Davos and predicted that Greece would default within a year and that Portugal was next. George Soros, the billionaire investor, was also sounding the same alarm about Greece’s eventual default. “The odds are in that direction,” Mr. Soros said. (That hasn’t come true — at least not yet.)

That same year, Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, had it right: “We know for sure that we have avoided a major, major credit crunch, a major funding crisis.” (Of course, he could help control the outcome.)

What about the wisdom of the collective crowd, not just the individual predictions? If you’re looking for the mood of the corner office — even if it is a fleeting mood — the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is actually a pretty good litmus test.

PricewaterhouseCoopers does a survey of many of the participants that it reveals on the first night of the conference. While the results would not have helped investors in 2008 (the group was still quite bullish), listening to the results in 2009, 2010 and even 2011, the view was generally on target.

But, of course, it is the individual predictions that receive the most attention. I remember paying particular attention to this one: In 2008, the futurists and technology forecasters Peter Schwartz, a co-founder of the Global Business Network, and Paul Saffo of Stanford University declared that they expected the publication of newspapers to end by 2014. Luckily, the prediction track record in Davos isn’t great.

A version of this article appeared in print on 01/22/2013, on page B1 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Prophesies Made in Davos Don’t Always Come True.

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With Obama fundraising, Latinos demonstrate growing clout

WASHINGTON — Cecilia Soto-Loftus, co-founder of a Malibu party services company, was new to presidential politics when she started raising money for President Obama's reelection bid last year.

After pulling in more than $400,000, she is getting the red carpet treatment at this weekend's inaugural festivities, with invitations to a strategy briefing for top fundraisers, a VIP candlelight reception and the official inaugural ball.

The special access reflects the unusual role Soto-Loftus and other Latino fundraisers played in Obama's 2012 campaign, the first to focus on tapping Latino celebrities, lawyers, business owners and community leaders for cash. The effort, called the Futuro Fund, aimed to raise $6 million — and brought in more than $30 million.

"It really sent a strong message that we shouldn't be overlooked," said Soto-Loftus, a Boyle Heights native who hopes to be considered for an ambassadorship, perhaps to Costa Rica or the Bahamas. "And I think we have only hit the tip of the iceberg."

Though $30 million was a small slice of Obama's record $1.1-billion haul, the Futuro Fund inducted a new cohort of donors into national politics, and created a Latino fundraising network that other politicians are clamoring to access. Most importantly, the group's work demonstrated the growing clout of Latinos beyond the ballot box.

"This is practically the final frontier in terms of what we need to be doing as political players in this country," said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. "We've had the elected officials. We've had the activists. We've had the voters. And now we have the donors."

Democrats are using the inauguration to cement ties with the new class of donors.

Obama named actress Eva Longoria, a co-founder of the Futuro Fund, as co-chairwoman of his inaugural committee. And on Sunday night, Vice President Joe Biden made a surprise appearance at a gala performance of legendary Latino artists including Jose Feliciano, Rita Moreno and Chita Rivera that Longoria hosted at the Kennedy Center. The event was the culmination of Latino Inaugural 2013, a three-day celebration organized by the Futuro Fund.

"In this election, you spoke in a way that the world — and I mean the world, as well as the United States — could not fail to hear," Biden said as he thanked the black-tie crowd.

The proximity to power has given Latino fundraisers a new avenue to push their policy agenda. During the campaign, Longoria and others pressed Obama to overhaul immigration laws. Now they aim to continue advocating for immigration reform, for more Latinos in the administration, and for a host of other issues.

"We're going to be able to have influence on what affects our communities, whether it's the economy or jobs or education or healthcare," Longoria said before taking the stage Sunday night.

"The work begins now," noted Henry R. Muñoz III, owner of a San Antonio architecture firm. "It's all about how we harness and leverage what we have been able to achieve."

He and Longoria started the fund with San Juan lawyer Andres Lopez, an early backer of Obama who was frustrated when few other Latino fundraisers participated in the 2008 campaign. "We hadn't shown our financial muscle and hadn't earned the respect at that very important table we thought we could earn," Lopez said.

In mid-2011, the trio made their pitch to Obama campaign manager Jim Messina and finance chairman Matthew Barzun during a meeting in Chicago: Make time for us on the president's fundraising schedule, and we will bring in money.

"We originally offered [to raise] $6 million, and they said, 'Do you think you can do 12?' And we said, 'We'll try,'" Muñoz recalled.

A large share came at high-dollar events, such as a fundraiser Obama headlined at the Los Angeles home of actors Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith. But organizers also worked the phones. Concern about the GOP presidential challengers, who quarreled in the primaries over who would be tougher on illegal immigrants, helped spur contributions.

Latino donors "just didn't feel that the Republicans even understood their point of view," Lopez said. "And frankly, a lot of them said, 'I've never been asked,' which was our hunch."

Alex Nava, a 36-year-old commercial litigation lawyer in San Antonio, had given a few hundred dollars to Obama's 2008 campaign. He felt little incentive to give more, he said, because "any money I gave would be lost in the larger shuffle."

Then Muñoz called and explained how they hoped to demonstrate Latino fundraising power.

"I wanted to be part of that," said Nava, who donated the $5,000 maximum to the 2012 campaign.

A similar sentiment motivated Amalia Perea Mahoney, a 59-year-old art gallery owner in Chicago. Mahoney volunteered for Obama's campaign in 2008, but had never raised money. That changed after she attended a Futuro Fund briefing at Obama headquarters.

"I thought it was a great tool to get the Latinos a seat at the table," said Mahoney, who ultimately brought in between $200,000 and $500,000.

Some of the wooing was done by Obama, who met with about 20 prominent Latinos at a Washington hotel in early 2012.

"We felt part of the process, not just on the bleachers watching," said Ralph Patino, a 55-year-old trial lawyer in Coral Gables, Fla. He now has a photo of Obama with the group displayed in his law firm.

He and his wife, Elizabeth, gave more than $150,000 to the campaign and the Democratic Party, along with nearly $10,000 to the inaugural committee. They were among top donors who met the president and first lady, as well as Biden and his wife, at the White House on Friday.

Elizabeth Patino, a 37-year-old lawyer, said she was now contemplating jumping into politics, perhaps running for city commissioner this spring.

"I didn't know that I had this piece in me that really likes the political world," she said. "I was always somewhat afraid of it. But seeing how Latinos could come together and make such a great impact on a national level — it's just intoxicating."

matea.gold@latimes.com

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An Appointment With Kim Dotcom

Paul Spain is the host of the weekly NZ Tech Podcast, one of New Zealand’s leading locally produced podcasts and often appears on TV and video as a commentator on consumer and business technology topics.

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND — It’s been said that Kim Dotcom is a villain. Many, particularly those in the film industry and law enforcement, believe it. To others, he is a hero standing up for the rights of Internet users everywhere.

[More from Mashable: Kim Dotcom’s Mega Begins Early Rollout]

I wanted to find out for myself where he stood.

I arrived at the Dotcom Mansion early Sunday afternoon New Zealand time. It was just a few hours after the launch of Kim Dotcom’s new website Mega.co.nz and one year since his mansion was raided and he was arrested by New Zealand police in conjunction with a U.S. request to extradite him.

[More from Mashable: Kim Dotcom’s Mega Loses Web Domain Before Debut]

A friendly Kim Dotcom greeted each of us in a small media gathering, before sitting at the head of the table flanked by Ira Rothken, his California-based attorney.

I expected a prepared statement. That wasn’t the case. Dotcom shared his excitement about the 250,000 Mega signups in the first two hours and soon led into Q&A session for the remaining 45-minutes. He proved to be extremely adept in the way he responded to questions, working effortlessly to position Mega as an innovator. He indicated a desire to help the film industry succeed in the world of digital downloads and streaming — rather than being just a company out to line its own pockets.

Dotcom’s opinions and arguments for his cause were strong and generally well thought out, though on occasion seemed less robust. For instance he suggested he’d found a great way films could be funded in the future. His concept involves studios signing up digital streaming distributors around the world to fund a movie ahead of its production.

He felt distributors might pay for streaming rights before production, thereby funding the production. Unfortunately, I feel revenues from streaming (now and for the foreseeable future) are typically so low this would only provide a small fraction of the funds needed to produce a movie. And who wants to risk paying up front for a movie that might be a flop?

When asked about whether he would stay in New Zealand if he succeeds in stopping his extradition to the U.S. later this year, he was non-committal. On one hand he said he loved the country but on another he was worried he’d be persecuted by authorities, and in that case he’d leave. He spoke of journalists, music and movie producers on their way to visit him being harassed by customs officials upon arrival in the country –- including strip searches and even a request to view the content of one visitor’s laptop. I’ve not been able to verify these rather extreme occurrences.

Dotcom has positioned Mega as a service that sits between Dropbox and his previous site Megaupload -– with the added benefits of end-to-end encryption. He and Rothken went to great lengths to highlight that Mega would operate entirely within the law.

Dotcom made little effort to suggest Mega would be less prone to being a haven to copyright materials than Megaupload was. It seems there will continue to be a game of cat and mouse afoot as Dotcom and authorities try to outwit each other.

(A full audio recording of the discussion will be available later today at NZ Tech Podcast.)

In a one-on-one setting with Dotcom, I tried to gain more understanding about the open source elements of the Mega service and his commitment to New Zealand. Interestingly he was reticent to provide solid answers to either question and provided what I felt were just pat answers aimed at fobbing me off.

As we left the compound mid-afternoon, we saw Kim on stage rehearsing for the evening performance he would lead, with the support of musicians, his co-accused and investors in the new Mega. That performance included a dramatization of the raid on his home one year before. It was a gathering filled with media from around the country and a few from abroad. In the public context he continued to sell Mega extremely well –- to the point where someone commented to me that the event at times felt like a religious or marketing conference.

Dotcom currently remains on bail until his extradition hearing due in September. Amongst those in attendance, it appeared widely accepted that the bid to extradite him from New Zealand to the U.S. is likely to fail because of mistakes made by law enforcement and New Zealand spy agency GCSB.

After my visit, I’m left with a number of fairly clear impressions about Kim Dotcom and Mega. How you take these will depend on which side of the fence you stand:

1. Mega’s management team is making every effort to operate in a manner that does not fall afoul of the law (though it could be argued they did the same with Megaupload).


2. Mega will be used to distribute copyrighted materials such as movies, TV shows and music -– though likely to a lesser extent than Megaupload did.


3. Kim Dotcom will continue to draw controversy and be outspoken about the rights of Internet users everywhere. He is not backing down.

Love him or hate him, Kim Dotcom is back in business and, if he’s to be believed, no fair court will be able to stop him.

Dotcom raid being re-enacted at the mansion.

Click here to view this gallery.

Photos by Paul Spain

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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Berlusconi sex trial verdict due after February vote

MILAN (Reuters) – Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi will not face a verdict in a trial where he is charged with paying for sex with a juvenile prostitute until after elections next month, according to a decision by judges that could help his political comeback.

A new timetable of hearings set by Milan judges on Monday shows the last session in the trial will be held on March 11, well after the February 24-25 elections.

The decision will be welcomed by Berlusconi, who had feared a verdict in the middle of his campaign for a fifth term in office. Milan judges last week rejected his request to have the trial suspended until after the elections.

Berlusconi, who has surged in opinion polls in recent weeks but still lags the centre-left Democratic Party, is charged with paying for sex with a minor, and denies all charges.

The judges on Monday again rejected a bid by Berlusconi’s lawyers to have the trial halted.

The lawyers, Niccolo Ghedini and Piero Longo, justified their new request by saying they are both standing for Berlusconi’s party in the Veneto region and would not be able to campaign if the trial went ahead.

Judge Giulia Turri said the argument was “too generic”.

According to the new timetable, the prosecutor in the case is expected to make her final arguments and request Berlusconi’s to be convicted on February 11.

Berlusconi could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison but would not serve time unless he also lost the two appeals allowed by Italian law, usually a lengthy process.

The nightclub dancer at the centre of the case, 20 year-old Moroccan Karima El Mahroug, more widely known under her stage name “Ruby the Heartstealer”, made a brief appearance in court last week.

Berlusconi is charged of paying for sex with her when she was under 18, which is a crime in Italy.

He is also accused of abusing the power of his office as prime minister to have her released from police custody when she was briefly held over separate theft allegations.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for January 28.

(Reporting By Manuela D’Alessandro, Writing by Silvia Aloisi; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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Recipes for Health: Lentil, Celery and Tomato Minestrone

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

If you did a lot of cooking over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays you may have some celery hearts lingering in your refrigerator. You needed a few branches for a stew, a stock, or a soup, so you bought a whole bunch, and here it is weeks later and the rest of the celery is wilting in the produce drawer.

This doesn’t have to happen if you think of this vegetable as something more than an aromatic. I’m a big fan of celery, both raw and cooked, as the main ingredient or as one of several featured ingredients in a dish. You can do the traditional thing with raw celery and dice it up and add it to a potato, tuna or egg salad, or you can make a celery salad, slicing the branches as thin as you can get them and tossing them with herbs, radishes, oil and vinegar, and blue cheese. If you are cooking with celery, don’t stop at one branch when you make soup. The celery contributes a wonderful herbal flavor dimension. It retains its texture for a long time when you cook it, so I used it as the main vegetable in a risotto and loved the way it stood up to the creamy rice.

You always see celery listed as an ingredient in tonic juices and blender drinks. It has long been used in Chinese medicine to help control high blood pressure, which makes sense because it contains phytochemicals called phthalides that reduce stress hormones and work to relax the muscle walls in arteries, increasing blood flow. The vegetable is an excellent source of Vitamins K and C, and a very good source of potassium, folate, dietary fiber, molybdenum, manganese, and Vitamin B6. Another bonus attribute – it is very low in calories. However, it is on the high side as far as sodium goes.

Lentil, Celery and Tomato Minestrone

I make minestrones like this all the time, but I hadn’t made a version with this much celery in it until I made this one, and I loved the dimension of flavor it contributes to the mix.

1 cup lentils, rinsed

1 onion, halved

A bouquet garni made with 2 sprigs each thyme and parsley, a bay leaf, and a Parmesan rind

1 1/2 quarts water

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 medium carrot, diced

3 celery stalks, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

Salt, preferably kosher salt, to taste

1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes, with liquid

Pinch of sugar

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Very thinly sliced celery, from the inner heart, for garnish

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese for serving

1. Combine the lentils, 1/2 onion and the bouquet garni with 1 quart water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, add salt to taste, cover and simmer 30 minutes.

2. Chop the remaining onion. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and add the onion, carrot, and celery. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes, and add the garlic and a pinch of salt. Stir together until fragrant, about 1 minute, and add the canned tomatoes with their liquid and the sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring often, for about 10 minutes, until the tomatoes have cooked down somewhat and smell fragrant.

3. Add the lentils with their broth, the tomato paste, salt to taste, an additional 2 cups water, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings. Season to taste with freshly ground pepper, stir in the parsley and serve, garnishing each bowl with thinly sliced celery heart if you want some crunch, and passing the Parmesan at the table.

Yield: Serves 4 to 6 (4 if there are teen-agers in your house)

Advance preparation: This will keep for three or four days in the refrigerator. It may require thinning out. It’s even better the day after you make it. I have a teenage son and he just about polished off the leftovers – which should have served 3 – the day after I tested the recipe.

Variation: Shortly before serving add 2 cups baby spinach and simmer just until wilted.

Nutritional information per serving (4 servings): 276 calories; 4 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 49 grams carbohydrates; 12 grams dietary fiber; 392 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 17 grams protein

Nutritional information per serving (6 servings): 184 calories; 2 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 32 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams dietary fiber; 261 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 11 grams protein

Martha Rose Shulman is the author of “The Very Best of Recipes for Health.”

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