Mediterranean sojourn? Not right now, thanks

Riots and a general strike in Greece; 13 percent unemployment in Spain; and I'm not sure I even want to know what's happening in Italy.

Berlusconi breaks a rule

According to a small Wash. Post item today ("A Selfish Endorsement," p.A5), Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi endorsed John McCain for president in Rome yesterday, while standing next to President Bush. Berlusconi, 71, said: "I suppose I could express my own personal preference for one of the candidates, the Republican candidate. And this is for a very selfish reason, and that is that I would no longer be the oldest person at the upcoming G-8 because McCain is a month older than me."

In response to this serious breach of the norm that leaders do not inject themselves publicly into another country's domestic politics, Bush merely "chuckled," according to the article.