Individual decisions, not tolerance by their superiors, were behind the misconduct of 12 service members working in Colombia to prepare for President Barack Obama’s visit last April, the U.S. Southern Command reported Friday. The misconduct, it said, ranged from having prostitutes at their hotel rooms to propositioning college-age greeters at their hotel and even allowing bomb-sniffing dogs to sleep in hotel beds and defecate on bed sheets. 

"Military and civilian leaders did not create or foster an atmosphere of tolerance for prostitution or marital infidelity," investigators said in the report, part of which was released to the public.

The misconduct prior to the Summit of the Americas resulted from "individual decisions," and not a single, coordinated party or event condoned by superiors, it added. 

---

The scandal unfolded when the hotel where the 12 men were staying notified the U.S. Embassy of concerns, the report noted. Those were:

• Keeping their female companions past the allowable hour of 6 a.m. on April 12.
• Drinking alcohol at the pool.
• Allowing bomb-detection dogs to sleep in the beds, soil the linens and go to the bathroom in inappropriate areas around the hotel.
• Propositioning college-age female greeters at the hotel who were working with the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Prostitution is legal in Colombia but it is prohibited under the Uniform Code of Military Conduct.

And, despite the fact that the rules for the U.S. military assigned to the Summit of the Americas included a curfew and restriction on alcohol consumption, they did not prohibit the U.S. military members from visiting specific locations, such as prostitute bars, or from having foreign nationals in their hotel rooms. 

The report concluded that the actions did not compromise national security. "No sensitive items were stored or permitted in the individual military members' hotel rooms," it stated.

Seven Army soldiers and two Marines have received administrative punishments. Three of them have requested courts martial, which would give them a public trial to contest the punishments.

A dozen Secret Service officers, agents and supervisors were also implicated. Eight have been forced out of the agency, three were cleared of serious misconduct, and at least two are fighting to get their jobs back. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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ROME — Throughout his political career, Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi collected almost as many nicknames as he did gaffes and lawsuits.
 
Comedian Beppe Grillo once famously called him a "psycho dwarf," poking fun at his height — 5 feet, 5 inches, according to most sources.

An editorialist for the Italian daily La Repubblica once called him "The Caiman" — a term for crocodiles — to underline his predatory nature. That nickname was also used for the title of a film by Italian director Nanni Moretti, in which he skewered the former prime minister.

Then came "Papi" — Italian for "Daddy" — the nickname teenager Noemi Letizia used to call Berlusconi, who famously attended her 18^th birthday party before his wife finally left him saying she could no longer be with a man who "consorts with minors."

---

In a court in Milan on Friday, testimony added another nickname to the roster: "Betty." 
 
That is what Barbara Faggioli, one of the showgirls who attended Berlusconi’s controversial dinners accused of leading to wild after-parties in which prostitution was rife, said she used to call him.
 
Faggioli took the stand in the ongoing hearing in Milan in which prosecutors are trying to establish if Berlusconi paid for sex with an under-aged prostitute known as "Ruby The Heart Stealer" during one of the now infamous after-dinner parties known as "bunga bunga."
 
She defended the former prime minister and claimed that no sex was ever exchanged in return for the generous presents Berlusconi would hand out to the many girls attending his parties. But when Faggioli was called to clarify some of the wiretapped conversations in which she was featured, she explained she used "code names" when talking about Berlusconi with other girls.

Berlusconi, she explained, was "Betty." And money, often paid out by the former Italian prime minister to women as "gifts," were called "shoes."
 
Despite the fact that Faggioli tried to make things better for him by defending Berlusconi in court, she made it worse by claiming that she thought of him as a father, casting an immediate shadow over the whole category in Italy.

In all fairness to Italian fathers, most are not accused of showering their "girls" with money and gifts or of staging alleged shows with women dressed in skimpy clothes, sometimes dressed as sexy nuns.

Faggioli even wore an expensive necklace that she admitted was given to her by Berlusconi as a present. It was, apparently, her way to prove to judges, and Italy, that she had nothing to hide.
 
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A woman identifying herself as the Colombian prostitute at the center of a scandal involving U.S. Secret Service agents spoke publicly about the incident for the first time on Friday, telling a Colombian radio network that, had she been a terrorist, she could have easily pried loose details of President Barack Obama’s planned visit to Cartagena from the liquored-up agents. 

“At that moment, if I had wanted to, or if I had been part of one of those terrorist groups, it's obvious I would have been able to get everything," the woman, Dania Londono Suarez, told Caracol Radio. 

Suarez said the Secret Service personnel did not consume drugs, but “bought alcohol like one buys water” while partying at a discotheque in the tourist destination before inviting some of the “escorts” to return with them to the Hotel Caribe, where many members of Obama’s security detail were staying.

---

Suarez said she didn't know if there were other girls or how many agents were involved. "I was at the bar with another girl, but left with him by myself. I was the only one." 

 

 

Suarez said she made clear that she expected to be paid before departing with the agent whose refusal to pay her led to exposure of the misconduct. 

“I was at a disco and he came over and told me 'sex,'" she said. "... I said, 'Baby, Cash, Money,' that I wanted money. He said, 'OK, baby. How much?' 'Eight hundred.' He told me, 'Eight hundred. OK, let's go. Come, come to hotel.'

"It was obvious. I can't believe he would be so dumb or so stupid to think I wasn't going to charge him money."

But she said that the agent had a change of heart when they awoke in his room about 6 a.m.

Watch the most-viewed videos on msnbc.com 

“When he was drunk he was the nicest guy, but when he woke up sober, he was another person,” Suarez said. “When I asked him for the money, he told me ‘Let go, bitch.’ He pushed me into the hallway and closed the door. He wouldn't come out. I kept pounding on the door. Hotel security came.  The called the head of the hotel's security and I explained what happened to him on the phone.” 

Suarez, who has a 9-year-old son, said she traveled to Dubai after the incident but had returned to Colombia despite concern that she could face retaliation from the tarnished Secret Service personnel. 

"I fear they will retaliate against me," she said. "I left my country, practically fled. Yes I am scared. I fear or my family and for my son. No one has threatened me, no one has come to see me, but their marriages have been wrecked, they're sharp shooters, because I've been doing some research and I know they do that."

She also said her career as an escort is over: "I do not plan to that ever again," she said. "They ruined my life. They should have never published my pictures, my name." 

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The Secret Service has declined to comment on the interview. According to an official with the Secret Service the agency is close to completing its internal investigation of the incident, which occurred prior to the Summit of the Americas on April 14-15. 

The 12 Secret Service personnel at the center of the investigation were among 175 members of the service in Colombia during Obama’s visit. They were among 135 staying at the Hotel Caribe, the source said.

Seven of those members of the agency have resigned, one has been terminated and one has retired, NBC News has reported previously. Three others have been cleared of serious misconduct but given administrative punishment.  

Meantime, a separate investigation into U.S. military personnel who were allegedly involved in the incident has been concluded and forwarded to a commander for review, military and defense officials tell NBC News. 

According to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the U.S. military investigator looking into the incident zeroed in on a dozen uniformed personnel assigned to the security operation -- seven Army personnel (six Special Forces Green Berets and one White House communications specialist); two Navy bomb detection specialists, two Marine dog handlers and one member of the Air Force whose duties were not specified. 

SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Douglas Frazier will review the report and determine what, if any, punishment should be meted out. Once he formally accepts the findings of the investigation, he has four options: 

• Clear any or all the individuals of any wrongdoing.
• Administrative action (a letter of reprimand, usually a career-ender).
• Non-Judicial punishment (reduction in rank and pay).
• Criminal charges and court martial. 

In the Uniformed Code of Military Justice, consorting with or procuring the services of a prostitute is prohibited and considered a criminal act.

Erika Angulo is an NBC News producer based in Miami; NBC's Chief Pentagon Correspondent Jim Miklaszewski and Kristen Welker of NBC's Washington, D.C., bureau also contributed to this report.

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A prosecutor in France is to consider claims by two prostitutes that ousted Intermational Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was involved in a gang rape at a party in Washington, according to a French newspaper.

The paper, Liberation, reported (in French) that it was alleged that two businessmen and a senior French police officer were present during the attack in 2010, when Strauss-Kahn was being tipped to become the next French president.

---

Judges in France asked a French prosecutor to look into the escorts' claims and the prosecutor is due to announce next week if a further, formal investigation will take place, according to Liberation. Meantime, the New York Times reported the assault allegedly occured at a "sex party" at the W Hotel in Washington in December 2010.

Strauss-Kahn and the others have not been charged in relation to the claim, but Strauss-Kahn does face separate charges of “aggravated pimping.”

The escorts made the claims about the alleged gang rape in testimony given during the ongoing investigation of Strauss-Kahn’s involvement in an organized prostitution ring in Normandy.

The alleged assault in Washington took place during a three-day trip to the city. The two escorts had accompanied two French businessman as their secretaries, according to Liberation's report.

It alleged that one of the escorts, called "Marion," was raped by Strauss-Kahn in the presence of the three others, who she said did nothing to stop what was described as rough sex despite her vocal protests. 

Meet Monsieur Caramel Pudding, likely French president

According to excerpts of eyewitness testimony published by Liberation online, the others looked on while Strauss-Kahn "held her hands down, grabbed her hair and hurt her." The escort also alleged that one of the other men held her hands down as Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted her.

The woman gave testimony in the ongoing investigation but did not press charges in relation to the Washington incident. Normally victims need to press charges for a case to be brought, but officials can decide to do so in certain cases.

The prosecutor will now decide whether to pursue the investigation to determine if there are grounds for a "group rape" charge.

NYC maid can sue
On Tuesday, a judge in New York ruled that a sexual assault lawsuit brought by hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo, 33, against Strauss-Kahn could go forward to trial, rebuffing his claim that he had diplomatic immunity.

State Supreme Court Justice Douglas McKeon's ruling kept alive the civil case that emerged from a May 2011 hotel-room encounter that also spurred now-dismissed criminal charges against Strauss-Kahn. The episode was the first in a series of allegations about his sexual conduct that sank his political career.

The housekeeper said Strauss-Kahn, 63, tried to rape her when she arrived to clean his Manhattan hotel suite. Strauss-Kahn has denied doing anything violent during the encounter.

Prosecutors dropped the criminal charges last summer, saying they had developed doubts about Diallo's trustworthiness because she had lied about her background and her actions right after the alleged attack. Diallo has insisted she told the truth about what happened in the encounter itself.

Strauss-Kahn bundled away from Cambridge University protesters

Strauss-Kahn resigned his IMF job days after his arrest, and he didn't assert immunity from the criminal prosecution; his lawyers have said he was focused then on trying to exonerate himself. But after the lawsuit was filed, about three months later, they said he should have immunity from the civil case.

Invoking an American sports metaphor, the judge said their argument amounted to a "Hail Mary" pass, and one that raised a question of fairness.

"Strauss-Kahn cannot eschew immunity (in the criminal case) in an effort to clear his name only to embrace it now to deny Ms. Diallo the opportunity to clear hers," the judge wrote. 

NBC News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Two Secret Service supervisors and three members of the agency's elite Counter-Assault Teams were among the 11 agents sent back from Colombia and placed on administrative leave over allegations that they brought prostitutes to their hotel rooms in Cartagena, law enforcement officials tell NBC News.

The involvement of Counter-Assault Team (CAT) members-- who are not members of the Uniformed Division, but full-fledged Secret Service agents -- ratchets up the seriousness of the incident, officials said.  The heavily armed agents play a key role in protecting the president, serving as part of any presidential motorcade, usually a few cars back from the president's. Their responsibility is to "neutralize" any attack "as quickly as possible," according to the Secret Service website.

---

"Their job is to fend off a heavy assault on the motorcade to give POTUS a chance to flee to a safe locale," one law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told NBC News, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The source said the two of the CAT team members were directly involved in the dispute with one of the prostitutes at the Hotel Caribe that led to the scandal. After bringing back the prostitute to their hotel room, the agents reportedly got into a dispute with one of the women when she complained she hadn’t been paid. The woman then went to the Colombian police -- who reported the matter to the U.S. Embassy.

Others involved in the incident include three members of the Secret Service Counter-Sniper Team, which is part of the Uniformed Division.

The source also said the incident raised the possibility of a potential security breach, telling NBC News that all Secret Service personnel had been given copies of the president's schedule, which they are told to lock up in a safe in their hotel rooms.

Michael Isikoff is an NBC News national investigative correspondent.

Swiss voters rejected a proposal to increase employees' annual minimum paid vacation entitlement to six from four weeks on Sunday after firms warned it might hurt competitiveness and threaten jobs.

The initiative was put forward by trade union Travail.Suisse, which argued that four weeks' vacation was insufficient because the pressure of work had increased so much in recent decades, causing rising stress and health problems.

---

But Swiss television said initial figures showed the proposal had been rejected by a clear 67 percent of voters.

Referendums are central to Switzerland's political system of direct democracy, and have been held on topics ranging from health insurance to smoking bans.

In a separate referendum Sunday, people in Zurich voted for the creation of “sex boxes” -- places where prostitutes can work -- while Geneva residents agreed to restrict street protests, BBC News reported.

The “sex boxes” -- as they have been nicknamed by local people -- are parking spaces with walls between them where sex workers can operate away from suburban areas, according to the BBC.

The Swiss have a reputation in Europe for being efficient and hard-working, a trait that has helped the country attract international companies and do well in competitiveness rankings.

'Fear-mongering campaign'
The Travail.Suisse union said the referendum had taken place at a bad time because of serious economic concerns surrounding the euro zone crisis.

"For many voters, it was understandable that current concerns about their own jobs took precedence over the long-term welfare of people and Swiss business," it said in a statement. "With their fear-mongering campaign, the opponents of the initiative played with the uncertainty of workers."

The main employers' association, which had lobbied hard against the proposal, welcomed the result.

"The 'no' to the holiday [vacation] initiative means above all a 'yes' to the maintenance of the competitiveness of Swiss companies and the securing of jobs," it said in a statement.

"Adoption of the initiative would have pushed up already high labor costs in Switzerland and burdened business with additional costs of six billion Swiss francs ($6.5 billion) a year," the statement added.

Average Swiss vacation entitlement is already around five weeks, as many firms offer more than the statutory minimum. In 2002, Swiss voters rejected a proposal to cut the working week to 36 hours from 42 hours.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Inmates at several prisons in Kyrgyzstan have gone on a hunger strike over new restrictions that effectively bars them from having prostitute visits, a state official told AFP on Tuesday.

"Prisoners at seven prisons have refused to take their meals," Joldochbek Bouzourmankoulov, spokesman for the country's prison sentencing agency, told the news service.

---

Bouzourmankoulo said the hunger strike was tied to new limits on prisoner visits. In the past inmates had the right to visits from their families and others, he said. "But under the label for 'others,' they were bringing prostitutes to the prison," he told AFP.

From now on, only relatives with identity cards can visit, AFP reported.

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