Ines Kappert notes that following the foiled school attack in Cologne "the usual explanations" are coming into play. Yet she adds that the reaction of both the police and the school was correct in many respects. "Teachers took the warnings of alarmed pupils seriously and the school management was aware that November 20, 2007 is the anniversary of the massacre at a school in Emsdetten. It realised that shootings at schools are part of a global phenomenon which seriously disturbed pupils like Rolf B. want to be part of - because they crave attention, because they want revenge and because they believe all other forms of communication have failed them." Nonetheless, Kappert criticises the fact that the student in question was sent home after questioning: "Sending violently disposed, disoriented youths on their way is certainly not the solution." (20/11/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, angielski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Niemcy
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Ines Kappert

"The phenomenon is not entirely new, but it is worrying: violence is increasing among Europe's school pupils, generating sombre dramas which, previously confined to American campuses, are now gaining the Old Continent", explains Laurent Moyse. "Violence is spreading more or less everywhere. We can no longer spend an evening in front of the television without seeing, even by chance, a fight, a shooting, a crime, or simply exceptionally violent verbal exchanges throughout a film without anyone being very bothered by so much venom flooding our little screens. ... After being exposed day and night to all the horrors humanity is capable of, we can only wonder if entertainment doesn't go hand in hand with disenchantment, to the extent of perverting weak minds, leading them to plan acts in real life that are as atrocious as they are unutterably disgraceful." (20/11/2007)

» Strona www (Link zewnętrzny, La Voix du Luxembourg)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Europa, » Cały świat
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Laurent Moyse

"The Internet is undoubtedly fuelling two things", writes columnist Marisa Micallef. "One, this global mania to be famous which we can now all be by posting stuff about ourselves on the net. Secondly, and a lot darker, a need to stand out in whatever way. Most of us are not that talented after all. But most of us have an imagination, sometimes even a sick one.Those who are desperate for fame, notoriety, or just plain being noticed are posting all their fantasies on the net. And many of them are reasonably educated, are young people who can't be alone even for a minute it appears. The minute they are at home alone, or with parents downstairs they get into this unreal world where they can talk to anyone, have unreal relationships, relive their sickest fantasies? ... Who in real terms should we be more afraid of (depending on your point of view) as we live our daily lives, Osama Bin Laden or George Bush or the new so called friends we are msn-ing or perhaps even the geek upstairs or downstairs?" (19/11/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, angielski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Media internetowe, » Cały świat
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Marisa Micallef

Several teenagers have inflicted terrible physical abuse on one of their schoolmates in the outskirts of Malaga. The daily is concerned about the emergence of a new form of violence. "There are more and more youths who, though they have no economic problems, find a form of distraction in violence. Their material desires are immediately fulfilled and they are incapable of controlling their most primary impulses and respecting the basic rules of life in society. They feel superior and need to prove this superiority with physical domination. And this violence finds a multiplying effect in new technology that enables them to broadcast the humiliations they inflict on others. Hence the beatings filmed with mobile phones and shown on Internet. Facing this, parents must become more involved in the education of their children. And surveillance measures should also be applied to telephones and Internet use ... ." (20/11/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, hiszpański)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Europa, » Cały świat

Writer Laslo Vegel is a member of Serbia's Hungarian minority and currently lives in Berlin. He talks to Jörg Plath about Serb relations with Europe and Russia. "The majority want to come to Europe. This orientation is a legacy of the Tito era: we had a Western lifestyle, with Heidegger supporters on the central committee and a million guest workers living abroad, but at the same time eastern values, with the one-party system and a soft dictatorship. The Communists were partially pro-Western while today's anti-Communists are partially pro-Eastern. ... Putin symbolises the new-old Eastern European ideal: national populism. He's attractive to opponents of globalisation, romantic anti-capitalists and nationalists. Even Putin's detractors feel attracted to this ideal. The transition from a one-party system to a multi-party system was short, but the change in mentality will take a lot longer. All our parties are small or large-scale feudalists. The feudal tradition is still very much alive in post-communism. Our past is still to a certain extent our future." (19/11/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, niemiecki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Historia, » Europa Południowo-Wschodnia, » Serbia
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » László Végel, » Jörg Plath

In an interview conducted by Philippe Manche and Bernard Demonty, the Belgian actor Benoît Poelvoorde defends the unity of his country, which has been going through a political crisis for more than five months. "When you film two fools tearing up a Belgian flag, it's only two fools. It isn't the entire Flemish community. Not all Flemish people tear up Belgian flags. The problem is that if you put two people burning a flag on the front page, all the Walloons stand there, bound to say, 'I have a feeling we're not so appreciated in the Flanders region'. ... It's important to fight to get across the message that our country also thrives on this sort of fragility of two communities obliged to respect one another. ... I am convinced that Belgium will not split, because citizens will eventually have their say again." (20/11/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, francuski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Media drukowane, » Belgia
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Benoît Poelvoorde, » Philippe Manche, » Bernard Demonty

"Nothing but abuse in the name of the people!", notes the Italian editorialist, referring to Silvio Berlusconi's new party, The Italian People's Party for Freedom. "To give his party a name, Berlusconi chose a now insignificant word that doesn't mean anything ... . Nobody knows how to define the people. It isn't Marx's class ..., or the ultras of the stadiums, or the public of America's democracy, or television viewers, or the consumer market, or a spontaneous gathering, or the Web community. Nor is this a country at war, a third state, a question of plebs, or the protagonists of revolutionary songs with tunes sometimes nostalgic, sometimes ridiculous. As for the term popular, it has even less meaning than people ... . This signifies something widespread, of cross-class consensus, considered nice. It is in this respect that Berlusconi is a popular figure." (20/11/2007)

» Strona www (Link zewnętrzny, La Repubblica)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Włochy
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Francesco Merlo

Aleksander Smolar, President of the Stefan Batory Foundation, analyses the Polish dispute over the European Charter on Fundamental Rights which is to be signed along with the EU Treaty at the EU summit on December 13 in Lisbon. The new Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is still deliberating whether to push Poland's accession to the Charter against the will of Polish President Lech Kaczynski. Smolar analyses the situation: "The new government is facing a tough decision: should it accept the Charter on moral grounds and also in a bid to end Poland's isolation, thus running the risk that the Polish President torpedoes the entire EU Reform Treaty? Or should it adopt the cut-down Polish version of the Charter given the fundamental importance of the document? I fear this problem will become the battlefield of the first important confrontation the PiS uses to discredit the PO government and bolster its own voter base." (20/11/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, polski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Konstytucja UE, » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Polska
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Aleksander Smolar

Melania Mandas Vergu comments on the cuts in Romania's education budget: "For eleven months we've been almost deafened by the praise for Tarceanu's Cabinet - those patrons of Romanian schools. There wasn't a speech which didn't mention the fact that for the first time since 1989, education was receiving adequate - or even ample - funding. But yesterday's government session put an end to any hope of consistent political action in this area: the education budget was cut by 130 million euros in one go. ... Of this sum that was stolen from our schools yesterday, 100 million euros were to be spent on didactic material. In concrete terms this means each school would have been able to buy new blackboards, lockers for sport equipment, maps and materials for chemistry and physics lessons, microscopes, CDs or other necessary materials. But these little things - which account for the quality of lessons in other European countries - are dismissed as frivolities and luxuries here in Romania." (20/11/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, rumuński)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Rumunia
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Melania Mandas Vergu

For Sweden's schools, parents and children are coveted customers in an open market: the state funding allocated to each child for its education goes to the school - public or private - which the child attends. Schools therefore often come up with spectacular advertising campaigns. The newspaper calls for more objective information on the quality of education provided by a school: "Some of the advertising on this market is so dubious that text message ads for cheap credit look serious in comparison. At the school fair held recently in Älvsjö, one school marketed its services with the slogan: 'You only have to come to school for half the day here'. Schools should be forced to offer proof of their quality when marketing themselves. What are the average grades? How large is the proportion of pupils who pass the exams in the core subjects? What's the school's ranking on the national ranking list? In possession of such objective data, consumers can make an informed decision." (20/11/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, szwedzki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Szwecja

"From one conflict to another. The torch of contention will be passed on", states Dominique Quinio. This Tuesday, November 20th, a French civil service strike is adding to the public transport industrial action that has lasted six days so far. "If there is a theme that links up these protests it is buying capacity. The high cost of living is the most shared subject of discontent. Thus trade unions are pulling this lever able to federate all employees in private and public sectors. By contrast, the government is striving to partition the problems, setting different social categories against one another. ... Prolongued strikes seriously damage countries' economies. Nobody will benefit from the deadlock going on and on. All parties appear ready to negotiate on Wednesday, or earlier. ... When can we hope for trains and metros to start working again ?" (20/11/2007)

» Strona www (Link zewnętrzny, La Croix)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Ruchy społeczne, » Francja
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Dominique Quinio

The daily is not impressed by the first speech on climate change delivered by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown on November 19th. "Global warming, he said, constituted 'an immense challenge to the world'. The cost of doing nothing would be an economic crisis as bad as the Great Depression plus a world war rolled into one. Nothing less was needed than a fourth industrial revolution. ... Given all that, why is there such a curious lack of urgency about what Mr Brown is actually doing, rather than merely saying? ... For all the talk about emissions cuts, the Government's transport strategy points in the opposite direction, especially in the week that it is likely to back the expansion of Heathrow Airport. So do the additional £300m cuts [around 419 millions euros], disclosed at the weekend, in government environmental services. ... If green speeches by political leaders were enough, said Friends of the Earth (FOE), climate change would have been solved many years ago." (20/11/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, angielski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Środowisko, » Wielka Brytania

At the end of October, Hungarian world champion swimmer Ágnes Kovács withdrew from a doping check saying she had to attend a social engagement. Her excuse was accepted. András Kelen criticises the sports officials for their camouflage tactics: "While the international sport establishment has taken the interests of global sport to heart and is making a resolute effort to end the doping trend, national sports associations are trying to foil its efforts. ...If the establishment allows athletes to perceive doping checks as a burden they can avoid every now and then, the entire world of professional sport will suffer. After all, it has close ties to leisure sport, which in turn plays a vital role in health. But if sport one day loses the last remnants of playfulness it will be reduced to nothing more than a circus attraction." (19/11/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, węgierski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Zdrowie, » Sport, » Węgry
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » András Kelen

Architecture critic Steve Rose is awestruck by Cologne's new Kolumba art museum. "Churches have stood on this site, in the middle of Cologne's medieval centre, since Roman times. ... Kolumba is not your run-of-the-mill culture palace. It was commissioned by the Catholic archdiocese of Cologne, which owns a magnificent collection of religious art. It was a bold undertaking, for which the church needed the best. So it hired Peter Zumthor. ... The result is serene yet stimulating. In fact, so seamlessly executed is the whole that, at times, it's hard to separate the building and the art. ... If anything, there's too much to worship here: the art, God, history, the city beyond, the architecture, and, by extension, the mighty Zumthor himself. The architect's presence has been covered up so smoothly, it becomes almost strangely conspicuous. He's invisible but overarching, much like a god." (20/11/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, angielski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Architektura / Miasta, » Wystawy / Muzea, » Niemcy
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Steve Rose

Vienna and Bratislava are the two most closely situated capitals in Europe. 18 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain a motorway now connects the two cities. A tramline is to follow. Luboš Palata reports: "Vienna is already the fourth-richest city in the EU, while Bratislava is the second-richest city in Central Eastern Europe after Prague. Together with Brno and the northern Hungarian industrial metropolis of Györ, it forms the Euro region Centropa, which with a population of six million is one of the fastest-growing regions in Europe. At the epicentre of this region is the double-city Vienna-Bratislava. The outer districts of these two cities are only 40 km apart. ... Austrian companies have been acquiring real estate in Bratislava's old district for years now, while people from Bratisla are building houses in Austrian villages situated just a few kilometres from the Slovak capital." (20/11/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, czeski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Rozszerzenie UE, » Infrastruktura / Komunikacja, » Słowacja, » Austria
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Luboš Palata

According to calculations by economists, the traffic jams in Bulgaria's capital Sofia cost the country 280 million euros per year. Ivan Michalev explains: "When the English want to make small talk they talk about the weather; the Sofians on the other hand talk about the traffic jams. The popularity of this topic is no mere coincidence. Sofia looks like a seriously ill patient with blocked arteries and a weight problem. But instead of prescribing a diet and exercise, the doctors are trying to solve the problem by putting more notches in the patient's belt. The city is choked up with traffic and noxious exhaust fumes, and the city council is trying to counter the problem by constructing new car parks and extending the roadways. However these methods are obviously not working. It's time to resort to more radical measures." (19/11/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, bułgarski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Infrastruktura / Komunikacja, » Bułgaria
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Ivan Michalev