On this week's program: Heads roll as teddy bears are airdropped over Belarus - A new take on the world’s most visited city - We join Spanish job-seekers looking in vain for work - Roma refugees are evicted from their settlements in Belgrade - Is one wife enough in Turkey? - And getting your tongue around street signs in Danish
Spain now has Europe's highest unemployment rate, with nearly Spaniards out of work. For people in their twenties, the rate is more than double that. Every weekday morning, lines snake around the block at unemployment offices across Spain. Reporter Lauren Frayer went to one such office in Madrid to talk with the unemployed about how they're coping.
In the Serbian capital, Belgrade, large settlements of Roma people or gypsies are being evicted from their homes with little or no warning. According to official sources, there are at least 20,000 Roma in Serbia who are classified as Internally Displaced Persons. Many of them fled from Kosovo during the conflict there in 1999. Daniel Bishton reports from Belgrade.
A storm is brewing in Turkey over polygamy - it’s a practice that was officially abolished back in 1926. The row started when a well-known talk show host said polygamy should be legalized, because it’s in the Koran. And she said she’d offered a friend as a second wife to her husband. Dorian Jones has more from Istanbul.
Two design students in Copenhagen are urging the tourist board to put up speaking street signs to help visitors grasp the tongue twisting names. Danish is one of the most difficult European languages to learn, and the students have created a device to clarify the signs. Malcolm Brabant in Copenhagen went to meet the students.
The US metal band Lamb of God have been forced to cancel their upcoming American tour after the arrest of lead singer Randy Blythe in Prague. The charges stem from a incident two years ago when a Czech fan was pushed off the stage and later died. Some claim the case could have far-reaching consequences for live music. Rob Cameron has more from Prague.
The London Olympics are underway and so far, generally, Britain has won plaudits for its running of the Games. But there has been some disquiet, especially within Britain itself, about the role of corporate sponsors. Between them they’ve paid for the exclusive use of the Olympic brand. And critics say that exclusivity has been enforced in a heavy-handed manner. London Stephen Beard has more.
The Olympics are making headlines in Austria - but not for the medal count. The man who presided over Austria's Olympic committee for 26 years has been given a 5 year jail sentence. Heinz Jungwirth was found guilty of siphoning off 3.3 million euros in committee funds to support a lavish lifestyle. He’s appealing the conviction. Kerry Skyring has more from Vienna.
A thousand teddy bears attached to little parachutes and wearing signs calling for human rights were dropped onto Belarus in early July. The country’s authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, has now sacked his air force and border security chiefs over the breach of Belarussian airspace. One of the pilots of the plane, Tomas Mazetti, told us more about the covert soft toy mission.
