ROME — This week in Rome, bloggers and activists wore gags to protest a proposed law that could impose heavy fines on bloggers who don’t correct “offensive” comments within 48 hours. About 200 bloggers gathered at sunset in the picturesque Piazza Navona July 15, while hundreds others joined the protest online by freezing blog posts for a day.

ATHENS — On the morning of June 12, Greek authorities flattened and cleared a squatter camp in the Greek port city of Patras that was home to hundreds of illegal immigrants from Afghanistan. Bulldozers crushed the makeshift houses, setting off a fire, while riot police arrested the few dozen inhabitants who hadn’t yet run away. The demolition of the camp, where many Afghanis lived while trying to board boats to Italy, is evidence of a new crackdown on illegal immigration by Greece’s center-right government that has human rights groups worried.

L’AQUILA, Italy — A new arrival in any of the tent villages that pepper the landscape surrounding this earthquake-stricken city quickly attracts a small crowd. Most of the estimated 60,000 area residents left homeless by the April 6 earthquake are still camping outdoors more than three months later, as the Group of Eight Summit begins here. After an initial flurry of interest from aid groups and media, the residents are mostly left alone. The days blend together, many say.

LONDON — Leaders of the G8 nations begin their annual three-day summit Tuesday in earthquake shattered L'Aquila Italy. Are you excited by that fact? Thought not. Neither, would it seem, is the host of the event, the government of Italy. Disinterested chaos has characterized the preparations for the get together and the agenda is decidedly thin.