Comment: An estimated 300'000 children are currently involved in 33 armed conflicts around the world. Europe is not an exception since thousands of child soldiers fought during the Balkan war. Mirjana Rakela, journalist from RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian-Languages Service, received the Lorenzo Natali Prize on November 15 2008 for her reports on child soldiers. Her previous articles are available on Radio Free Europe website.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty full text

Comment: 'The Jakarta Post' reports that a Swiss citizen will soon be extradited from Indonesia to France, where he must serve a sentence of four years in prison over a pedophilia case. The police found dozens of photographs of naked adults and minors on his laptop. As the authorities had no proof that the victims were Indonesian, they decided to extradite him.

The Jakarta Post full article

Comment: Portugal one of the European countries with the largest number of immigrants, in proportional terms, states the Inter Press Service Agency's article. Another trend is that most new immigrants are not attracted to job opportunities in Portugal, but are rather relatives of recent labour migrants and coming to join their families. Among the new arrivals looking for work, the largest group is formed by Brazilian nationals (one of every four foreign workers), followed by Ukrainians and Moldavians.

Inter Press Service Agency full text

Comment: 'The Herald Tribune' reports on the European Roma Rights Center's (ERRC) review of the Czech situation one year after the European Court of Human Rights condemned the Czech Republic for discriminating Roma children in education. Unfortunately - according to ERRC - Roma children continue to be over-represented in special schools for the mentally disabled. The Czech Minister of Education is quoted saying that the country needed three to five years to solve the problem.

The Herald Tribune full text

Related News: Croatia wins in Roma pupils case

Comment: 'Radio Netherlands Worldwide' reports that on November 11th the missing child alert system, called "Amber Alert" went online in the Netherlands. Police can broadcast information about a missing child, which will then be e/mailed or sent via sms to people who have registered on the website. It will also appear in screens in stores and other public spaces. Police will be promoting this system to encourage more people to participate.

RNW News full text