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Tuesday, July 28, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
EUROPE: Waste in East Going Waste
Environment groups have warned that Eastern Europe is plagued with serious and potentially dangerous waste disposal problems as new figures reveal the region has Europe's lowest recycling rates.BELARUS: Crackdown on Dissent Feared Ahead of Elections
Civil rights leaders in Belarus are facing a campaign of persecution and harassment as autocratic President Aleksandr Lukashenko looks to crack down on the opposition ahead of local and presidential elections over the next year, rights activists warn.EAST EUROPE: Taxing Fast Foods for Health
Health experts have called on European governments to use a pioneering tax on fast foods to be introduced in Romania as a model for the entire continent as the battle with obesity spreads to the former communist bloc.RIGHTS-AUSTRIA: Migrants Issue Stokes Political Passions
Support for the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) in Austria has soared amid debate over controversial plans for the construction of a new centre to house asylum seekers.EUROPE: Fight Female Mutilation Harder Activists Urge EU
With hundreds of thousands of girls and women believed to be at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Europe, rights groups have mounted a campaign to get EU leaders to stop what they see as a barbaric and dangerous procedure.RIGHTS: Chinese Dissident Wins More Backing for Nobel
Politicians in the Czech and Slovak republics have won wide support for a public campaign backing a Chinese dissident for the Nobel Peace Prize.MEDIA: Slovakia Tightens the Gag
Fears are growing for media freedom in Slovakia amid warnings that the country's public television station has become a propaganda tool for the government ahead of elections this year.HEALTH-EUROPE: ‘Czech Attitudes to HIV/AIDS Risky’
Complacency and ignorance over the risks posed by HIV and AIDS are threatening to send infection rates soaring in the Czech Republic, health authorities.RIGHTS: Gays Take Heart From Austrian Ruling
Landmark legislation on same-sex registered partnerships in Catholic Austria is an example that politicians in Eastern Europe's Catholic countries should now follow, gay rights groups in the region say.ECONOMY: Meltdown Brings Poverty Back to East Europe
As former communist states in Eastern Europe transformed their economies from command to capitalist, over the last 20 years, economists praised the adoption of western-style economic models that created middle classes able to enjoy new levels of wealth and comfort.BALKANS: Apologising to Sterilised Roma Women – Slovakia’s Turn
Rights activists are hoping a landmark announcement by the Czech government regretting forced sterilisation of Roma women in the past will push politicians in neighbouring Slovakia to follow suit.SLOVAKIA: Velvet Touch Brings Communists Back
As Slovaks mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism this week, former dissidents have lashed out at top political figures, including the prime minister, who they say are trying to paint the totalitarian regime of old in a positive light.AFGHANISTAN: NATO Members in Waiting Mode
Corruption, doubts over Afghan leadership, and faltering public support have emerged as the main stumbling blocks to a demand for more NATO troops in Afghanistan.RIGHTS: Castration for Polish Paedophiles Opposed
New legislation in Poland introducing compulsory castration of paedophiles has angered human rights groups, who claim its introduction is little more than populist posturing.RIGHTS-AUSTRIA: Thousands of Migrants Take to Hunger Strikes
Human rights activists in Austria are calling for an overhaul of a detention system for migrants and asylum seekers they claim breaches human rights, following the death of a hunger-striking migrant in police cells.G20: IMF Finds a New Unpopularity
When some Eastern European states faced economic collapse as the financial crisis took hold, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stepped in and offered governments huge loans.EUROPE: Divided We Stand United
The "poison" of populist politics in central and Eastern Europe is behind an escalating row between two new EU member states that could spill over into ethnic violence, political analysts warn.EUROPE: Financial Crisis Leads to Rapes
Several groups across Eastern Europe have called for a crackdown on mafia-run job agencies amid reports that their members are raping and torturing migrant workers who have lost their jobs in the economic crisis.EUROPE: Focus Shifts to Trafficking of Males
Governments and third sector organisations must raise awareness of a growing problem with male human trafficking in some of Eastern Europe's poorest countries if its victims are to get the help they need, people trafficking monitors say.EUROPE: Not the Language to Speak
A controversial new law on foreign languages in Slovakia branded discriminatory and totalitarian by critics is fuelling tensions and destroying trust between Slovaks and ethnic Hungarians, political analysts have warned.EUROPE: Bringing Up a ‘Lost Generation’
A "lost generation" of children vulnerable to crime and exploitation is growing up in Eastern Europe as their parents migrate abroad for work and leave them behind, migration watchdogs warn.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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