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News digest: 17 September 2012

CZECH REPUBLIC: Czechs weight human rights against business (Inter Press Service): "The Czech foreign ministry has insisted the country’s support for human rights is “not for sale” after calls from the prime minister to drop “fashionable political causes” such as supporting the Dalai Lama and the jailed Russian pop group Pussy Riot"

GREECE: Dissent in ethics committee vote on Golden Dawn (Athens News): "Parliament’s ethics committee on Thursday condemned recent violent incidents that took place with the participation of Golden Dawn MPs"

GREECE: Golden Dawn blood for use by all, hospital says (Athens News): "Blood collected by Golden Dawn members on a square in central Athens on Friday will not be for the exclusive use of Greek patients, a hospital superviser has told the Athens News"

GREECE: Illegal immigration emerges as new crisis for Greece - and EU (Wall Street Journal)

POLAND: Court finds man guilty of insulting Polish president on 'satirical' web site (The News): "In a ruling that will concern free speech campaigners, a 26 year-old man has been sentenced to 15 months community service for insulting Poland's president on his web site"

POLAND: Poland to sign Convention on violence against women (The News)

SPAIN: Tens of thousands rally in Spain against austerity measures (Global Post): "The rally comes on the heels of an announcement by the country's finance minister, who said that further cuts and wage decreases were about to be enacted"

UK: Children in peril as women are jailed in record numbers (The Independent): "The number of women in prisons has more than doubled in 15 years, with 17,240 children separated from mothers who are in jail, an investigation by The Independent shows today"

UK: Deaths in custody are rising, says ombudsman (Prisons and Probation Ombudsman): "Increasing numbers of people are growing old and dying of natural causes in prison, said Nigel Newcomen, Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, as he published his first annual report. He added that there had also been a troubling rise in the number of self-inflicted deaths in custody." See: Annual figures for fata incidents investigations, Jan-Dec 2011 and Prisons and Probation Ombudsman Annual Report 2011-12 (pdf)

UK: Hate crime in England and Wales: where is it worst? (The Guardian): "Nearly 44,000 hate crimes took place in England and Wales in 2011-12 - find out where they were and how the data breaks down"

UK: ICO's 'pragmatic' view of outsourcing rules on sensitive personal data processing may be without legal basis, claim experts (Out-Law.com): "The view of the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) that businesses do not require individuals' "explicit consent" in order to contract others to process their sensitive personal data is in contrast with the wording of data protection law, according to two experts"

UK: Met police rocked by new discrimination row: Women cops sacked over "gorillas" and "monkeys" race rant (The Mirror): "The racist chat involving Special Constable Rosanna Garofalo and WPC Joanna Sugda was taped when a colleague left an iPhone on record in her locker at work"

UK: Hundreds of refugees sent back to Sri Lanka to face torture (The Independent): "The Government is planning to forcibly remove hundreds of Sri Lankan asylum seekers next week despite mounting evidence that many are tortured on their return." See a briefing by Freedom from Torture: Sri Lankan Tamils tortured on return from UK (pdf)

UK: Widespread introduction of police tasers into London begins: Police to give 40 Haringey officers taser training by February (Hornsey Journal). See: Police sorry after taser blunder (ITV News) Is that a screwdriver in your pocket... Police taser electrician in "misunderstanding" (The Mirror)

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