World

USA: Tech firm staffers refuse to work for Trump

18.12.2016 20:23 On 14 December Reuters reported that approximately 100 employees of American technology firms have pledged not to aid President-elect Donald Trump create a database of people according to their religion or to deport people en masse. The signatories to the open letter are employed by Google, Twitter and other firms.  full story

Analysis: The German parliamentary elections and refugee policy

18.12.2016 17:23 Next year parliamentary and presidential elections will happen in the two most significant Member States of the European Union. While in France the choice of the conservative required two rounds of voting and about four million people ended up choosing the new candidate, the determination of the candidate for the German conservative dual party of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) was a lightning-fast process.
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New European civil society network hopes to accelerate the delivery of justice

18.12.2016 2:14 The European Implementation Network (EIN) began its work on 2 December at the headquarters of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. The main aim of this new nonprofit organization is to support the implementation of judgments handed down by the court.  full story

Slovak PM targets Roma in his speeches, critics say he should focus on his own corruption scandals

18.12.2016 1:20 Slovak news server Denník N reports that at the most recent convention of the governing Smer party, Slovak PM Robert Fico and his colleagues chose not just a new governing board, but also a new priority - Romani people. Fico gave a harsh speech discussing Romani people as welfare abusers and said he would support the police in their interventions into Romani settlements.  full story

Analysis: Czech media spread Islamophobic disinformation about court-ordered removal of Virgin Mary statue in France

16.12.2016 20:41 During the weekend of 4 December, the Czech News Agency published a news item saying that the French municipality of Publier, located on the intersection of the border with both Italy and Switzerland, must remove a statue of the Virgin Mary from public land on the basis of a decision by an administrative court tribunal in Grenoble. What is the reason for this decision?  full story

Online HOAX alleges Swedish Christmas lights cancelled because of Muslim demand

16.12.2016 19:01 Now that Christmas is upon us, the Internet is once again full of hoaxes alleging that Sweden has banned Christmas lights at the request of Muslims. The online hoaxes are spreading around Europe and the USA, alleging that the report is proof of a Muslim assault on "our" Christian traditions and values.  full story

Russian news servers spread hoax that "Western media" are faking reports of civilians rescuing children in Aleppo

16.12.2016 17:28 Last month the Facebook social networking site saw a massive dissemination of a collage of photographs from Aleppo, Syria that allegedly "proved" that "Western media" reports about the situation in Aleppo were being manipulated. Those sharing the photographs alleged they had been manipulated to show different Syrian men rescuing the same little girl in three different places.  full story

Fake news item spreads online alleging George Soros has died

16.12.2016 16:51 At the beginning of the week of 14 November a fake news item began to spread online alleging that George Soros has died, including in the Czech language. The news item was quickly refuted and labeled false and is just the latest in a chain of untrue, falsified news items about the deaths of famous figures.  full story

ERRC Seeks Human Rights Monitors

16.12.2016 12:51 The European Roma Rights Centre invites applications from individuals for Human Rights Monitor positions in the following countries: Czech Republic, Serbia, and Slovakia.  full story

Macedonia: The Queen of Romani Music, Esma Redžepova, has passed away

15.12.2016 2:14 Esma Redžepova, who was acknowledged worldwide as the Queen of Romani Music, passed away on the morning of 11 December in Skopje, Macedonia at the age of 73. The hospital where the singer was being treated announced her death.  full story

Germany: Pegida speechmaker charged with arson against mosque

14.12.2016 22:35 On 9 December the German media reported that the Federal General Prosecutor has filed charges against a man named Nino K. alleging that he committed arson attacks against a mosque during the week prior to the September celebration of the state holiday of German reunification. He is also charged with committing arson against the Congress Center in Dresden and planting fake bombs on a bridge there.  full story

Slovakia: Many youth support the ultra-right, study finds

12.12.2016 15:59 Many young Slovaks support the ultra-right party called Kotleba-People's Party Our Slovakia (LSNS). Marian Kotleba, the Governor of the Banská Bystrica Region and the party leader, also enjoys great popularity.  full story

Impoverished native Italians rebel against Moroccan immigrants inhabiting social housing

12.12.2016 6:53 Impoverished native Italians are rebelling against the provision of social housing to immigrants. The inhabitants of Rome's low-income San Basilio quarter recently prevented a Moroccan family from moving into an apartment building for the socially vulnerable there.  full story

About 1 000 Romani residents of a single Slovak village have been working in Britain and now fear Brexit

7.12.2016 8:26 Reuters reports that Romani residents of Bystrany, Slovakia are concerned about the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union because most of them are working in Britain and sending remittances home. These people now are afraid the option of their working in Britain will soon end.  full story

Slovak President says education is the way to address Romani issues

7.12.2016 7:49 President of the Slovak Republic Andrej Kiska visited the Podskalka Primary School near the town of Humenné two weeks ago. "We're all aware that the Romani issue, how to best include Romani people in everyday life, is a question of education," news server aktualne.sk quoted him as saying.
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European Commission: Internet giants must combat hatred more

6.12.2016 10:00 The European Commission has warned Internet companies such as Facebook and YouTube that they must expend more effort to combat hatred online because they are too slow at removing racist posts, news server EurActiv.cz reports. If they do not improve, the Commission is prepared to adopt norms that will legally force them to change their approach, according to EurActiv.cz.  full story

Austria: Independent centrist candidate wins Presidential election, ultra-right populist loses

5.12.2016 6:52 Yesterday's repeat of the second round of the Austrian presidential elections was won with 51.68 % of the vote by the independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen. His rival from the populist right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), Norbert Hofer, earned 48.32 % of the vote.  full story

Commentary on eviction in Slovakia: A rational society does not make a profit from or save money on the poor

3.12.2016 9:48 Roughly one month ago, in the city of Žilina, Slovakia, an apartment building on Bratislavská Street was evacuated with the assistance of police and subsequently demolished. Its approximately 120 occupants, including 58 children, were moved into a nearby gym for a couple of days.  full story

Slovakia: Study says failure of mainstream parties supports right-wing extremism

2.12.2016 6:34 The success of right-wing extremism in Slovakia consists to a great degree of the fact that standard institutions and political parties are not fulfilling the roles expected of them, the authors of a study analyzing extremism and nationalism in the country warned on Tuesday. The ultra-right in Slovakia unexpectedly succeeded in the March parliamentary elections this year when the LSNS, the party of the Governor of Banská Bystrice Region, Marian Kotleba, won 8 % of the vote and took 14 seats in the 150-seat legislature.  full story

EU FRA: 80 % of Roma in Europe at risk of poverty, 85 % of Roma in the Czech Republic are discriminated against

1.12.2016 11:09 The lives of Romani people throughout the European Union (EU) are being destroyed by omnipresent deprivation. A new report by the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) of the EU has found that Romani families are living excluded from society in shocking conditions and Romani children with low educational attainment do not have much hope of a better future.  full story