Oslo
Memorial service: Norway held a vigil for tolerance this week, one month after right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting spree. Speaking at a memorial service, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called on Norwegians of all races and religions to take care of one another. “Together we are an unbreakable chain of care, democracy, and safety,” he said. “That is our protection against violence.” The Norwegian rap group Karpe Diem, a Muslim-Hindu duo, performed. Breivik said he’d targeted the youth camp of the Socialist Left Party because he blamed the party for making Norway too welcoming for Muslims.
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Burka ban undermined: A French businessman has set up a $2 million fund to pay fines for women who choose to wear the full Islamic veil. Rachid Nekkaz, the French-born son of Algerian immigrants, said he is no fan of the burka or other forms of religious covering, and would favor a law to punish any husband who forced his wife to wear one. “But I’m also for a law that lets these women move freely in the streets, because freedom of movement, just like any freedom, is the most fundamental thing in a democracy,” Nekkaz said. He says that President Nicolas Sarkozy adopted the law simply to pander to the far right. Nekkaz plans to challenge Sarkozy for the presidency next year, but his 2007 bid drew less than 1 percent of the vote.
Prague, Czech Republic
Facebook insult threatens government: The Czech government was near collapse this week after the Tradition Responsibility Prosperity 09 party (TOP 09) threatened to quit the ruling coalition because of an insult on Facebook. Ladislav Bátora, a far-right adviser to the education minister, posted insulting remarks about the TOP 09 leader, Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, calling him “a sorry old geezer” and an “insolent spit-sprayer.” Schwarzenberg had previously said that Bátora’s extremist anti-gay and anti-immigrant views made him unsuitable for government office. TOP 09 lawmakers say that unless Bátora is fired, they will leave the coalition. That would cause the government to fall and trigger new elections.
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