Barbie Nadeau of Newsweek.com has posted a top-notch account of the garbage strike that is consuming Naples, Italy. Get a load of this passage:

"As the sound rings out from hundreds of Naples's churches it energizes the rodents scurrying frantically through the six-foot-high piles of rotting garbage festering in the streets because of a garbage strike now entering its fourth week. Stray dogs sometimes join in the feast, picking through the trash and drinking from puddles speckled with cockroach shells. If these Neapolitan trash troubles sound familiar, it's no wonder. The Italian region of Campania has been experiencing a garbage crisis for almost 14 years, during which time little has changed beyond the contents of the overflowing bins."

Yikes.

The article goes on to say that the European Commission is threatening Italy with sanctions and/or fines.