BRATISLAVA, Jun 19 (IPS) - Rights groups are calling on EU leaders to act after Lithuanian lawmakers approved controversial legislation that they say makes homosexuals "second class citizens" and breaches European conventions on human rights.The legislation passed by Lithuania's parliament this week bans the discussion of homosexuality in schools and any reference to it in public information available to children. Gay and human rights groups have condemned the law, claiming it institutionalises homophobia, is discriminatory, and violates the right to freedom of expression. They say it will also make gay youths more vulnerable, as teachers and other school students will be unable to provide information to them about homosexuality, or could be afraid to help them if they are bullied or attacked by peers. They also believe it breaches the European Convention on Human Rights, and have called on members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and EU leaders to put pressure on the Lithuanian government and president, who has yet to sign the law into effect, to amend it.
Greenland is set to wrest control of its vast natural resources from Copenhagen after almost 300 years under Danish rule this weekend. The Arctic island faces a historic shift on Sunday when a new self-rule status takes effect, the product of a referendum last November in which just over 75 percent of Greenlanders voted to take back more powers from Denmark after years of negotiations.
The Arctic island faces a historic shift on Sunday when a new self-rule status takes effect, the product of a referendum last November in which just over 75 percent of Greenlanders voted to take back more powers from Denmark after years of negotiations.
Under the self-rule agreement, Greenlanders will be recognized as a distinct people with the right to self-determination and Greenlandic will become the territory's official language.
Latvian growth rocketed as the private sector gorged on cheap credit from overseas. But when capital inflows ceased with the credit crunch, the bubble burst. And the downturn is being made worse by Latvia's currency peg. It has tied the lats to the euro to qualify for entry into the single currency. But that means the currency cannot fall, and thereby boost growth via exports. So the government has to engineer a so-called 'internal devaluation' - prices and wages must fall for competitiveness to be restored. That involves painful austerity measures, a pre-requisite for more help from the IMF.
RIGA- The recently approved budget amendments for 2009 have reduced all teachers' salaries by half as of Sept. 1. The teachers will be receiving the bare minimum subsistence amount, 172 lats per month.
In order not to exceed the allocated budget, more dramatic cuts will have to be introduced in schools in the last four months of 2009. In other state-funded institutions salaries will be curbed already sooner, with the budget amendments becoming effective July 1.
Opinion still divided on whether artifacts in British Museum should be returned to be put on display in new building in Athens
...the wishes of the Greek Ministry of Culture, which, in online materials documenting the "official Greek position" on the Marbles, lists an excerpt from a 2004 interview with Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis forecasting consensus in favor of the sculptures' return.
The British Museum, which planned to send two representatives to the inaugural celebration according to spokeswoman Hannah Boulton, maintained last week that it would not relinquish the sculptures, new museum or no. "[The museum] doesn't alter our view that the sculptures in the Museum's collection should remain here as part of the unique overview of world cultures that the British Museum exists to present," Boulton wrote in a statement to Kathimerini English Edition last week.
"[The museum] doesn't alter our view that the sculptures in the Museum's collection should remain here as part of the unique overview of world cultures that the British Museum exists to present," Boulton wrote in a statement to Kathimerini English Edition last week.
Police are looking into money laundering allegations over the Liberal Democrats' acceptance of £2.4m from a donor later convicted of fraud.Michael Brown's donation hugely boosted the party's 2005 election campaign, the BBC's Newsnight programme said. Mr Brown was convicted of fraud in 2008 but vanished before being sentenced to seven years in jail last month.
Police are looking into money laundering allegations over the Liberal Democrats' acceptance of £2.4m from a donor later convicted of fraud.
Michael Brown's donation hugely boosted the party's 2005 election campaign, the BBC's Newsnight programme said.
Mr Brown was convicted of fraud in 2008 but vanished before being sentenced to seven years in jail last month.
