Italy Calls In Shrinks for Garbage Crisis

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has a “final solution" to Naples' trash problem—and it includes psychologists, Der Spiegel reports. Naples, whose overflowing landfills have led to intermittently trash-choked streets for years, will soon be invaded by an army of volunteers, including a group of psychologists trained in counseling disaster survivors. Berlusconi has also pledged to clean up the garbage.

The so-called "angels of garbage" hope to descend upon the city soon, “but you know how the concept of time in Italy has its own logic,” the group’s president said. Not only have Naples residents had to live with stinking piles of refuse for months, but protesters routinely clash with police trying to open new landfills nearby, which they oppose. (More garbage stories.)