Portside

On the 25th anniversary of her first crime novel, the Commissario Brunetti author reveals how she is responding to dark times "I'm interested in why people do things. Crime in itself isn't interesting, it's just horrible. The convolutions of greed are more interesting intellectually than passion, because with passion the name is the answer. What happens once you open the door to temptation and to possibility, that's what fascinates me - how people worsen."

While France teeters on the brink of the far right, left parties elsewhere are showing surprising strength. Predicting election outcomes is tricky these days, the Brexit and the election of Donald Trump being cases in point. The most volatile of the upcoming ballots are in France and Italy. Germany's will certainly be important, but even if Merkel survives, the center-right will be much diminished and the left stronger. And that will have EU-wide implications.

The migrant crisis in the Mediterranean has captured the global spotlight. The EU response has focused on enforcement and a crackdown on traffickers. Some European political leaders propose using their navies to stop boats, returning the refuge-seekers to their points of origin, and then sinking the craft. This enforcement-based approach ignores the primary drives of migration but also jeopardizes millions of people who are seeking refuge from repressive regimes.

In Algeria, as elsewhere in Africa, economic neglect and despair at corrupt authoritarian regimes compels the continent's young people to risk death to escape to Europe.Due to the restrictions on freedom of expression and association and also because of the lack of space of entertainment, art and creativity, young people feel suffocated, humiliated, without dignity - foreigners in their own country and the only horizon they can see is the one beyond the sea.

Unemployment is growing throughout Europe. Sad to tell, rather than blame this on an economic model that puts profits before people, too many of Europe's "white" working class curse immigrants, people of color and others who are "different".

Unemployment is growing throughout Europe. Sad to tell, rather than blame this on an economic model that puts profits before people, too many of Europe's "white" working class curse immigrants, people of color and others who are "different".

Five Terrifying Truths About the Telecom Giants; One-Stop Shopping for FOIA; Adbusters Creepy Ideology; Hackers for Immigrant Rights; Suarez Gets Pushed Out of PBS

Last month, thousands of people protested in Rome against austerity policies and high unemployment, urging the new government to focus on creating jobs to help pull the country out of recession. The sea of protesters waving red flags and calling for more workers' rights and better contracts. Italy is in a recession and unemployment has skyrocketed with youth unemployment at around 38 percent. "We can't wait anymore" and "We need money to live" were among slogans.

After years of brutal austerity, collapsing economies, widespread unemployment and shredding of the social welfare net, Italians said "basta!" "Enough!"

Italy's Five Star Movement owes a big debt to the left – but won votes by rejecting it