Eastern & Central Europe

Bulgaria: Clashes Between the Roma and Ethnic Bulgarians in Katunitsa

Violent clashes in the Bulgarian village of Katunitsa, near Plovdiv, broke out Friday night, following the death of a 19-year-old ethnic Bulgarian local, Angel Petrov, who had been run over by a vehicle driven by a man linked to the local Roma clan leader.

According to Focus Information Agency:

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Russia: New Legislation Against Online Extremism

Russian government submitted a new anti-extremism legislation for approval to the Russian Parliament.  News agency ITAR-TASS reports that according to the news legislation, distribution of extremist content online can be punished with 5 years in jail.

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The Balkans: Over Half of the Population Uses the Internet

There are over 10.5 million Internet users in the Balkans/the former Yugoslavia, which makes up 51.7 percent of the region's population, according to a recent report [sr; see the table below].

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EU, Poland: Airport Body Scanners; Shaminder Puri's Case

Dominika Bychawska-Siniarska of Europe of Human Rights writes on BlogActiv.eu about airport body scanners, “human dignity” and the case of Shaminder Puri, a British Sikh who was harassed at the Warsaw Chopin Airport last year.

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Hungary: Public Media Job Cuts

Hungarian Spectrum writes about the stuff cuts at the three Hungarian public media outlets: “My understanding is that the two television stations [MTV and Dune TV] and Magyar Rádió have a total of something like 3,500 employees. From the little one can learn about the government's plans, most likely 1,000 people will get pink slips between now and the fall.

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Video: Celebrating the Solstice

Lanterns, dances, flowers and bonfires were some of the elements used in celebrations all over the world in observance of the Summer and Winter Solstices. Lets tour around the world to check out the different celebrations: Solstice at Stonehenge, Feast of Saint John's bonfires in Spain, Inti Raymi in Peru, we tripantu in Chile and Kupala Day in Russia or Midsummer's night in Poland.

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Czech Republic: The President's Chilean Pen Incident

Written by Veronica Khokhlova

The Reference Frame comments on the Czech President Václav Klaus' successful attempt to steal a protocol pen during a joint press conference with the Chilean President Sebastián Piñera in Chile.

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Serbia: Gaddafi's Cyber Army Oppose Rebels and NATO

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