· July, 2013

Stories about Western Europe from July, 2013

Germany: Demonstrations Against Surveillance

  29 July 2013

#stopwatchingus was the motto of demonstrations that took place last Saturday in Germany. The participants were protesting against surveillance by the secret services and government inaction.

Fukushima: No Place Like Home

  22 July 2013

‘No Time for Anger [de]’, a visualization journal by a team of Swiss media reporter and designers, illustrates Fukushima two years after the triple catastrophe of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami followed by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster on March 11, 2011. Fearing radiation, some residents sought evacuation to other areas...

Ireland to Cancer Patients: Not Dying? No Financial Aid.

  16 July 2013

The anonymous Irish blogger behind the blog “Pieces of me” sends an open letter to the Irish minister of Health after the ministry decided to cut off medical reimbursements for cancer treatments, “unless their diagnosis is terminal.” As a cancer survivor, the blogger writes a poignant pamphlet: My “not such a bad diagnosis at all”, brought me...

How Europe's Solution for Economic Crisis is Actually the Problem

  13 July 2013

Europe's current crisis is more than economic. Between the German government advocating a dangerous austerity policy and European authorities lacking any other suggestions, it is clear that the 2008 financial crisis is no longer solely responsible for the downward spiral of Europe.

VIDEO: Police Brutality Under the Acropolis

  11 July 2013

Blogger alepouda remixed footage from a 2007 Greek tourism campaign promoting the “true Greek experience” with a video of police aggression against protesters at a rally on 10 July, 2013 in Thisseio in support of anarchist Kostas Sakkas, accused of terrorism and detained without trial since December 2010, who is in the terminal stages of a...

Royal Abdications: Netherlands, Belgium, Will Spain be Next?

  8 July 2013

Abdications by two European kings within few months have unleashed in Spain speculations about a possible stepping down by king Juan Carlos in favour of his son Felipe. Meanwhile, Belgium is getting ready to receive a new king who is trutsted by few people.

Scholarships For Breast Enlargements in Spain?

  4 July 2013

An article written by Paloma Cervilla, in which she accuses female scholarship recipients in Spain of using their student scholarship money to pay for breast enlargements, has gotten social networkers up in arms, and they have expressed their indignation in blogs, comments, and countless tweets.

Eastern Europeans to Boost UK IT Industry

  3 July 2013

The UK labour movement restrictions placed several years ago to prevent migrants from Romania and Bulgaria from moving permanently and seeking employment in the UK will be lifted on January 1, 2014. Some predict large migrations of workers from these two countries, among the poorest in the European Union, while...