The presidential election in November 2008 may open the White House doors to the first Italian-American president, the first woman commander in chief or the first African-American to sit in the Oval Office. Candidates are now entering the final stretch before the Primaries’ Super Tuesday.

Barbara Faedda, assistant director of the Italian Academy at Columbia University, offers her personal view of the Big Apple and her daily encounter with a diversity of cultures. Hers is a privileged point of view of the community of Italians who find themselves living in New York for studies, business or state duties.

Entering the Shakespeare & Co. Bookshop in Paris is like embarking on “a trip of the senses taking in culture through sight, hearing, touch and smell.” Wandering through its rooms is almost like getting lost in Venice. Especially if you stop to browse the precious books that relate to the lagoon city.

With the acquisition of NBA All-Star Kevin Garnett, the Boston Celtics have bared their ambitions for the 2007-2008 season.

A cinematographic ‘love letter’ to a top-modern European city. The American director’s tribute to the Catalan capital is entitled “Midnight in Barcelona” (working title).

Lighthouses are by now nowhere to be found around Manhattan, where you can only find ‘lightships’ now, which are by tradition painted red. The only places you’re likely to spot the old beacons of light are around Staten Island, along the Hudson and, especially, along the shores of Long Island.

Corn Flakes, Frosties, Coco Pops… with added fruit, cocoa, honey, nuts… The world leading cereal maker, Kellogg’s products are sold in over 180 countries.

The first workers’ organizations were Anglo-Saxon, established in Europe and the United States around the turn of the 19th century. These ‘trade unions’ were the first signs of social change.

Labor Day in the United States and May Day in the rest of the world are the two main festivals honoring workers. But May Day, too, originated in the United States, and only later exported everywhere by international workers’ organizations.

Before the Concertation – the agreement between labor unions, government and industry – there was a moment in history when a single union split into three.