european – Page 2 – 4VF News

African Immigrants in Italy: Slave Labor for the Mafia

Xenophobes in homogenous European countries often complain that immigrants will erase their most precious cultural norms. The race riots in southern Italy last weekend may be one indicator that change is inevitable, as African immigrants who don’t live by the country’s infamous omert code of silence violently protested against the powerful Mafia clans that control their lives, says Roberto Saviano, author of Gomorrah, an anti-Mob book that earned him both critical praise and a 24-hour police guard.

After Strauss-Kahn: Who’s Next to Head the IMF?

Even before Dominique Strauss-Kahn announced from New York’s Riker’s Island prison on Wednesday that he was stepping down as head of the International Monetary Fund , world powers were already jostling over who could replace him. Indeed, since Strauss-Kahn’s arrest last Saturday on charges of attempted rape, European officials have been swift to argue that Europe should maintain the hold it has had on the IMF’s top job ever since the Washington D.C.-based organization was created in 1945

Public Spaces Like Tahrir Square Aided Arab Spring Protests

From Egypt’s Tahrir Square to Tunisia’s central Bourguiba Avenue to the plazas of Syria’s ancient cities, public squares have been at the center of the Arab Spring.

Have Fuel, Will Fight: Why an Oil Blockade Won’t Work Against Gaddafi

With a military stalemate increasingly likely in Libya, U.S. and European politicians have been eyeing an oil blockade against Muammar Gaddafi as a way of breaking his determination to keep fighting and avoiding a drawn-out war.

The U.S. and Iran

The tale sounded really too bizarre to be believed. The U.S.

Four E.U. Nations Stoke Fears of an Immigrant Flood

Immigration has always been a contentious issue in Europe. But these days, with enduring economic turmoil further fueling concerns over rising unemployment, European nations are especially sensitive about the prospect of foreigners taking jobs away from their citizens.

Non-Starter: Why Libya’s Rebels Distrust the African Union

An African delegation on a mission to end the seven-week conflict in Libya received a hostile welcome in the rebel capital of Benghazi Monday. “No Gaddafi, no sons!” hundreds of protesters shouted as they swarmed the vehicles of the Presidents of Congo, Mali, Mauritania and Uganda

Already Hurting, Portugal Must Cut Deeper for a Bailout

For Portugal, the news just gets worse and worse. Markets had been circling the debt-ridden, growth-resistant country since last summer, pushing up borrowing costs in anticipation of a default

Why Google Isn’t the New Microsoft

Last week, the European Commission — which is investigating whether Google’s search engine violates European antitrust law — received a formal letter of complaint from an interested party. The complainant charged Google with “a broadening pattern of conduct aimed at stopping anyone else from creating a competitive alternative.” It accused the company of hurting consumers by refusing to open up services such as YouTube to other search engines, said that its practices were “disconcerting” and “troubling,” and called on European officials to step in and clamp down.

London Lacking in Clean Air? Blame Europe

Call it the Air Wars. For the past 18 months, the city of London has failed to meet air-quality limits set by the European Commission .