
This week Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced his
plans to outlaw graffiti. The Prime Minister hopes to take well-precedented steps toward forbidding citizens to write on public buildings without permission. The
new law would make defacing historical monuments punishable by €30,000 ($38, 871), as well as 40 days in prison.

The G-8 Summit gets underway in Hakkaido, Japan today; a three-day meeting of the leaders of the eight countries invited, plus a representative of the European Union.
Grown from the concept of a forum of the major industrialized democracies after the 1973 oil crisis, more have been invited until 1997 when the last member, Russia, was invited at the initiative of then US President Bill Clinton.
The guest list is at the
edge of controversy this year, as major climate issues are at hand, and two of the worst polluters (China and India) aren't invited.