Life is good for Rome's political class. As Rome implements deep austerity measures in a bid to save its economy from a fate similar to Greece, many Italians are voicing anger over the privileged lifestyles of their elected representatives. Italy’s elected officials are the highest paid politicians in the world and are also among the biggest cheaters, according to an anonymous Italian blogger... 

At least 90 people are now confirmed dead after a shooting spree at a Norwegian youth camp. That attack came just a matter of hours after a powerful blast in downtown Oslo claimed at least seven lives. The Norwegian Prime Minister said more democracy and openness is the answer to the violence. But Helge Luras from the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs believes it’s the country’s... 

Front National leader Marine Le Pen is unlikely to win power but she is shaping France’s political debate, writes Charles Grant. Since becoming leader of France’s Front National in January, Marine Le Pen has started to shift her party away from the far right. She has not only dropped the overt racism and Islamophobia of her father, but also adopted hard-left economic policies. “Left... 

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton disembarks from her plane upon her arrival in Athens, as she continues her regional diplomatic tour, Saturday, July 16, 2011. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has begun a visit to Greece after telling officials in Turkey she wants to see an early solution to the Cyprus dispute. Clinton’s talks with Greek officials will also cover that country’s... 

Britain is to cut its army by 17,000 while boosting territorial units who will be called on for dangerous missions. The Army is to be cut in size by 17,000 soldiers in a radical overhaul of the armed forces to be announced on Monday. The reorganisation will see the Army shrink to its smallest size since the Boer War, while Britain’s reserve forces will benefit from a £1.5 billion investment programme. Members... 

Under its leader Heinz-Christian Strache, the right-wing populist Freedom Party has become a force to be reckoned with in Austrian politics. It is currently neck and neck with the country’s two largest mainstream parties in the polls. Meanwhile the governing Social Democrats are struggling to reconnect with ordinary voters. They aren’t actually that far apart, the chancellor and his adversary... 

Belarusian policemen in plainclothes detain a man in Minsk. Police in Belarus on Wednesday beat up and arrested dozens of anti-government protesters during a banned rally in the capital of the authoritarian former Soviet nation calling for the ouster of President Alexander Lukashenko. Dozens of plainclothes police reportedly rounded up the protesters during the rally, kicking and punching them before... 

Södertörn’s fire department, just south of Stockholm, is being sued for actively choosing to hire women and people with foreign background, according to Sveriges Radio (SR). The fire deparment’s gender and ethnicity quota became an unpleasant surprise for Simon Wallmark, who was informed that despite having trained as a firefighter, he was not encouraged to apply for a summer job, on... 

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, tipped to be the presidential candidate for the Socialist Party, has been undermined by a sexual assault case. The incumbent Nicholas Sarkozy’s popularity has taken a knock in the last year as well. Marine Le Pen, leader of the Nation Front Party, is hoping to use the failures of both men to her advantage. In the interview, Marine Le Pen said that “Nicolas Sarkozy... 

The BBC’s director general has admitted that the corporation has avoided speaking about the problems of ‘taboo’ subjects such as immigration. Mark Thompson said ‘sensitive and difficult issues’ like immigration were ignored because the broadcaster was ‘anxious’ about appearing to have a right-wing agenda. In an article for the New Statesman magazine, he admitted: ‘There have been occasions,... 

Marine Le Pen the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen recently became leader of the National Front succeeding her father. She is turning out to be a slick operator. With the French presidential elections less than a year away she is polling ahead of President Sarkozy. She doesn’t deny that there used to anti-Semitism in the party. Now she says she has only one thing to say to anyone with those views “... 

The stunning reversals in the criminal case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a putative French presidential candidate, have reawakened a dormant anti-Americanism here, fueled by a sense that the raw, media-driven culture of the United States has undermined justice and fair play. There was shock in France after the arrest of Strauss-Kahn and intense criticism of the manner in which he was displayed... 

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, right, and the South African President Jacob Zuma. The differences between Nato and Russia over the West’s bombing campaign in Libya were laid bare yesterday after Moscow accused the alliance of interpreting a UN resolution on military intervention to suit its own ends. Tense talks between Nato and Russian officials on the sidelines of a Nato-Russia Council... 

Geert Wilders and his anti-Islam Freedom Party are pushing the Dutch government to class the grandchildren of immigrants as “allochtonen” or non-native. Under current law the third generation children of immigrants in Holland are classified as Dutch, in terms of government statistics and entitlements, as long as both their parents were born there. But the anti-Muslim Freedom Party is concerned... 

Denmark fences itself off from the EU Denmark is to put the barriers back up on its borders with Germany and Sweden. The move is not going down well with EU colleagues who say it violates Europe’s much-heralded open border agreement. From Tuesday, 50 Danish customs officers will be stationed at the country’s borders to perform spot checks on vehicles. The move is part of a plan approved by...