Roberto Battelli speaks at the 2013 High-Level Conference on Tolerance and Non-discrimination in Albania. TIRANA, Albania, 21 May 2013 – Governments and parliaments should increase efforts to counter hate speech or racist content on-air and online, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative on South East Europe Roberto Battelli said today at the opening of the OSCE High-Level Conference on Tolerance and Non-discrimination in Tirana.

OSCE PA President Wolfgang Grossruck and Speaker of the Senate Kairat Mami in Astana, 21 May 2013. ASTANA, Kazakhstan, 21 May 2013 – OSCE PA President Wolfgang Grossruck is in Kazakhstan this week for a round of high-level meetings before participating in the Astana Economic Summit Thursday. Meeting Monday with Speaker of the Senate Kairat Mami and Speaker of the Mazhilis Nurlan Nigmatulin, Grossruck encouraged the full participation of the

AFP 13 May 2013 Monitoring body the OSCE Monday gave Bulgaria's elections an overall clean bill of health but said that incidents during the campaign had undermined trust in democratic institutions in the ex-communist country. The vote on Sunday was "held in a competitive environment, fundamental freedoms were respected, and the administration was well managed," the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said. It added,

Associated Press 13 May 2013 SOFIA, Bulgaria – The center-right party of former Prime Minister Boiko Borisov has fallen far short of winning a majority needed to form a government, according to nearly final election results released on Monday, and appears to have no willing partners to join a coalition. That would leave the second-place party in position to lead a new government. Borisov's Citizens for Bulgaria's European Development party

Eoghan Murphy, OSCE Special Co-ordinator, looks on as the Head of the OSCE PA delegation Roberto Battelli answers questions at the post-election press conference in Sofia, 13 May. SOFIA, 13 May 2013 – Bulgaria's early parliamentary elections on 12 May were held in a competitive environment, fundamental freedoms were respected, and the administration of elections was well managed, although the campaign was overshadowed by a number of incidents

Isabel Santos addresses the media freedom conference in Warsaw, 13 May 2013. (OSCE/ODIHR Piotr Markowski) WARSAW, 13 May 2013 – Governments must protect media freedom online and off to be in line with international commitments and to ensure respect for citizens' fundamental freedoms, the vice-chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's human rights committee said today at the opening of an international media freedom conference. Speaking to an