BUCHAREST - A 30-second spot on the LCDs of Bucharest buses shows a handsome young man holding a gorgeous young girl's hand, smiling and sweetly promising her a prosperous future abroad. The message is that the seemingly romantic scene conceals traps of human trafficking.
A caption at the end of the spot -- "Human Trafficking Hides Behind A Friendly Face" -- serves to warn people about the dangers of modern slavery in the 21st century.
In the wake of the political change in Eastern Europe at the end of the1980s, trafficking in people was on the sharp rise in the region. South Eastern European countries have joined hands to crack down on human trafficking, bringing to justice many perpetrators and providing assistance to victims.BUCHAREST - A 30-second spot on the LCDs of Bucharest buses shows a handsome young man... more
Five years after Ukraine's Orange Revolution, its next presidential election is between two pro-Moscow candidates
Five years ago, Ukraine's Orange Revolution was hailed as a new start for a country that had begun to look west towards the European Union and Nato. But as voters prepare to go to the polls next Sunday in the first presidential election since they cast out the country's Soviet-era leadership, Europe's most famous colour-coded reform movement seems to have run out of steam.
Both of the front-running candidates in the poll have indicated that firmer ties with Russia, whether for pragmatic or ideological reasons, will be a priority. The poll will thus ring the death knell for a pro-western revolution that degenerated into a morass of political infighting, compounded by economic crisis.
Leading the polls is Viktor Yanukovych, a former prime minister whose initial victory as the Russia-backed candidate in 2004 sparked allegations of a rigged vote. His only serious rival is Yulia Tymoshenko, the prime minister and Moscow's new favoured candidate. President Viktor Yushchenko, hero of the Orange Revolution, now has an approval rating below 3%. Last week he accused Yanukovych and Tymoshenko of comprising a "single Kremlin coalition", such was their joint desire for warmer relations with Moscow.Five years after Ukraine's Orange Revolution, its next presidential election is... more
President George W. Bush won so much favor in Eastern Europeans that leaders of those nations joined in the "coalition of the willing" after 9/11. However under President Barack Obama they feel neglected.
According to the Associated Press, now two thirds of them approve of Obama's foreign policy instead of nine out of ten that approved of that of Bush. Among them are the Czechs, the Poles and Rumanians. Their leaders now feel like Obama is abandoning them.President George W. Bush won so much favor in Eastern Europeans that leaders of those... more
A whopping 250 turtles have been found hidden on a train by Ukrainian border guards.
The reptilian passengers had been taped up to prevent them moving and had been hidden in toilets and the walls of the carriages.
The smuggler, who happened to be the train's Uzbek conductor, had planned to sell the turtles in UkraineA whopping 250 turtles have been found hidden on a train by Ukrainian border guards.... more
PRAVDA, Bulgaria — The name of this isolated spot in the lush Danube plains means justice or, in Russian, truth.
But little of either seems to have penetrated the home for men with mental disabilities and illnesses here, a bleak establishment reached most easily by a bone-jarring, six-hour ride from Sofia, the capital.
In the Communist era, this is where authorities hid the mentally ill from public view. Today, the Pravda Social Care Home for Men with Mental Disorders, a small complex of scrappy, two-story buildings, is still a favored destination for city folk to send away relatives with a mental illness or disability — and not worry about hearing from them again, employees and residents here say.
Across Central and Eastern Europe, many people with mental illnesses or disabilities are sequestered without rights or recourse under Communist-era rules that put their fates in the hands of legal guardians, often regardless of the severity of their disabilities, according to human rights groups.PRAVDA, Bulgaria — The name of this isolated spot in the lush Danube plains... more
A new German film explores the fate of one of the many women who were raped by Red Army soldiers at the end of World War II. A research project launched the same week is hoping to find some of the victims more than six decades later.
Germany in the spring of 1945. Hitler's Nazi regime was on the brink of defeat in the catastrophic war it had launched six years earlier. After invading and occupying large swathes of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union -- and murdering tens of millions of people in the process -- the German army was retreating, and the Red Army was following hot on its heels, intent on revenge.
Sweeping across German territory, many of the Russian soldiers burned, killed, looted. And they also raped German women. The Soviets, of course, weren't the only ones; soldiers from other Allied armies were also guilty of sexual violence as they moved into Germany from the West. But most agree that the problem was particularly acute in eastern Germany. Historians estimate that close to 2 million German women and girls were raped in the closing months of the war, many repeatedly.
This week a new film, called "A Woman in Berlin," opens in Germany which deals with the story of one of those women. The film is based on "Anonymous," an autobiographical account, originally published by a German journalist and editor in the 1950s, describing her experiences between April and June 1945. When it was originally published, reaction was overwhelmingly negative, prompting the author to forbid it from being republished during her lifetime. She died in 2001 and the book hit the shelves again in 2003, going on to become a best-seller.
The woman, played by Nina Hoss in the film (the film's North American release date is still pending though it was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in September), is raped several times by Red Army soldiers before forming a liason with a Russian officer in order to protect herself from further attacks. While the film tries to turn this into a love story of sorts in the book the relationship is purely functional.
(continues at link)A new German film explores the fate of one of the many women who were raped by Red... more
Hungary has raised interest rates by three percentage points to 11.5pc in a drastic move to stop the collapse of its currency peg against the euro, raising fears of a crunch across Eastern Europe as a string of states are forced to follow suit to stem capital flight.
The fast-moving crisis echoes the final days of the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992, when Britain, Italy, and Sweden raised rates to extreme levels to defend their currencies despite economic recession, with little success.
Hungary's premier Ferenc Gyurcsany said the county was left with no choice as the forint went into a free-fall. It has dropped 16pc against the euro since the start of the month and is now at the bottom of its ERM band. "There is still an exceptionally large speculative pressure on the forint. We will take every measure necessary," he said.
It is unclear whether the move will prove enough to prevent a forced devaluation. The treasury had to cancel a bond auction yesterday as buyers stayed away.
"We doubt the effect will be long-lasting," said Lars Christensen, East Europe strategist at Danske Bank. "The markets are very likely to test how far the central bank is willing to go."
Simon Derrick, from Bank of New York Mellon, said the rate rise was probably doomed to failure. "As soon as you see aggressive actions like this when the economy is not strong to take it, you know it is unsustainable," he said.
more...Hungary has raised interest rates by three percentage points to 11.5pc in a drastic... more
An interesting fight is breaking out between the Prime minister and President of this Eastern European Country. An interesting fight is breaking out between the Prime minister and President of... more
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko threatened to dissolve the parliament and call elections after his party quit the ruling coalition when Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko teamed up with a pro-Russian opposition party.Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko threatened to dissolve the parliament and call... more
Russia would cross "a red line for the United States of America" if it were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba, a top US air force officer warned.
"If they did I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America," General Norton Schwartz, nominated to be the air force's chief of staff, said Tuesday.
He was referring to a report in the newspaper Izvestia that said the Russian military is thinking of flying long-range bombers to Cuba on a regular basis in response to US plans to install missile defenses in eastern Europe.
Izvestia cited an unnamed senior Russian air force official as saying such flights were under discussion. But it was unclear whether they would involve permanent basing of nuclear bombers in Cuba, or just use of the island as a refueling stop.
In his confirmation hearing to become the air force's chief of staff, Schwartz was asked what he would recommend if Russia were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba.
"I would certainly offer the best military advice that we engage the Russians not to pursue that approach," he said, adding that Russia would cross a "red line" if it did.
A White House spokeswoman declined to comment on the Izvestia report because there had been no "official response from the Russian government."
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman responded to the report by saying, "That scenario is hypothetical and speculative at this point."
Conducting long-range bomber patrols to Cuba would signal a reawakening of military cooperation by former Cold War allies Moscow and Havana, and resurrects issues that first arose with the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
The crisis, which brought Washington and Moscow to the brink of nuclear war, ended with an understanding that Moscow would remove its intermediate range missiles from Cuba and not introduce strategic systems in the island. Russia would cross "a red line for the United States of America" if it were... more
Una breve istantanea di un viaggio nel Paese delle aquile, per raccontare un popolo fiero ed orgoglioso, che per molti sembra provenire da un pianeta lontano e che invece è là, dall'altra parte del mare.Una breve istantanea di un viaggio nel Paese delle aquile, per raccontare un popolo... more
A leak of coolant has prompted Slovenia to shut down the reactor at its only nuclear power plant, BBC News reports.
Authorities say that no nuclear material has been discharged into the environment. However, all 27 EU member states have been alerted following the Ecurie early warning system for nuclear emergencies.
Picture: Krsko nuclear power plant in southwestern Slovenia. It has been in operation for 20 years and supplies 40 percent of Slovenia's energy needs. http://www.nek.si/en/ A leak of coolant has prompted Slovenia to shut down the reactor at its only nuclear... more
Police in Bucharest are looking for a busking pole dancer who performs her routines on the city's underground railway.
Passengers described the dancer, photographed by a passenger's mobile phone, as a "well-dressed, attractive, student-like young woman".
She apparently performs her routines only when the train is travelling between further apart subway stations in the Romanian capital.
Her modus operandi is to play Tom Jones's You Can Leave Your Hat On on a portable CD player while taking off her clothes and dancing around a pole.
She then puts her clothes back on and passes around a container for passengers to show their appreciation for her efforts.
One passenger, George Stancu, who witnessed the act, said: "I can't say I didn't like the show but I found it unusual. There are lots of kids who travel by underground and I just don't think it's proper."
A police spokesman said the woman faced charges and a fine for indecent exposure and public begging if she is caught in the act.
However, officers are struggling to arrest her as she seems to perform only on trains with no guards or CCTV cameras.Police in Bucharest are looking for a busking pole dancer who performs her routines on... more
VBS, short for Vice Broadcasting System, is the internet video wing of youth culture print magazine Vice. In this deeply unsettling piece, Vice co-founder Shane Smith is able to find an arms dealer more than happy to sell him a real, working warhead. VBS, short for Vice Broadcasting System, is the internet video wing of youth culture... more
An army base stocking obsolete munitions destined for destruction detonated a chain of massive explosions yesterday, killing at nine people and injuring more than 240. Nearby villages and passing cars were hit by shockwaves from the blast, which began as workers moved stocks of bombs, bullets and shells stored at the base, a collection point for the arsenal amassed by Albania's Stalinist-era dictatorship. The process of dismantling the 100,000 tonnes of 40-year-old weapons has been a condition of the country's hoped-for membership to NATO.
The force of the explosion was so strong that it was felt at the seaside resort of Durres, 20km away. People living in the nearby village of Gerdec took shelter in concrete bunkers while others fled to the hills. It even shattered windows in an airport several miles away forcing an evacuation.
A Reuters cameraman described people trying to escape: "Terrified people are leaving the area on foot along the highway, women and children. Cars with broken windows have been abandoned on the highway."An army base stocking obsolete munitions destined for destruction detonated a chain of... more
Croatia's capital, Zagreb, has an interesting way to mark the time at noon using a howitzer cannon whose type was used in WWII. The cannon was a gift from the US in the 1980s.Croatia's capital, Zagreb, has an interesting way to mark the time at noon using... more
Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, has a long history of violence and troubles. It is probably poetically apt that the city greets the noon hour with a deafening blast of artillery.Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, has a long history of violence and troubles. It is... more
The weather forecast for Kosovo today is heavy snow, but chilly weather is far from the mind of most, as today the province will proclaim independence from Serbia, ending years of bitter recrimination and threats from both sides. In the bloody Albanian uprising ten years ago this week, thousands of civilians were murdered, prompting Western forces including Britain to bomb Serbia in attempts to quell the violence. Since 1991, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Montenegro have each asserted self-rule, and slipped from Serbia's territory. Kosovo's declaration will come at 3.00 pm (2 pm British time). Short video report at the link.The weather forecast for Kosovo today is heavy snow, but chilly weather is far from... more
Fiery Gypsy brass, soulful Balkan anthems, and hip-grinding American funk: Slavic Soul Party! is just what it says. Brash and strong as slivovitz, these nine musicians have forged a virtuosic new brass band music in the heart of New York City – melding Gypsy, East European, Mexican, and Asian immigrant backgrounds with American jazz and soul – and “developed a reputation for delivering a great time.” Fiery Gypsy brass, soulful Balkan anthems, and hip-grinding American funk: Slavic Soul... more
Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has stated that despite the ongoing initiative to support Kosovo they will appeal any plans of total autonomy.Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has stated that despite the ongoing initiative to... more
