Belarus Heads for Election, not Democracy

Belarusians will vote for a new, but still regime-controlled parliament on Sep. 23. At least those who do not respond to calls for boycotting the poll.

AIDS Spreading Fast Across East Europe

Despite pledges from governments across Eastern Europe and Central Asia to fight HIV/AIDS – one of the eight Millennium Development Goals – the region has the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemic.

Spain Hit by Epidemic of Despair

Rising rates of depression and suicide are among the most obvious signs of the increase in mental illness resulting from the economic crisis in Spain.

Drought Dries Up Balkans Harvests

After two months of waiting, people from the central Serbian town Valjevo followed the call of their bishop and went to local Orthodox Church to pray for rain.

Feed Europe, Feed the World

A huge moment for reform of the industrial farming system in Europe has many stakeholders on edge. Farmers who are feeling the crunch of rising input costs – from fertilisers to fuel – believe they can benefit greatly from a transition to more traditional and sustainable farming methods.

Norway Counts the Usefulness of Lending

The Norwegian government has announced it would assess the legitimacy of developing countries' debt to Norway. In effect it will investigate whether its loans have been useful enough to warrant repayment.

Europe Thinks Again About Food

Present day European farming is based on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which was created over six decades ago by countries emerging from severe food shortages that swept the continent during and after the Second World War.

Millions of Jobless Desperate in Spain

The sun is shining in Spain as it does every summer. But millions of people in this crisis-stricken country are living in the shadow cast by Europe’s highest unemployment rate.

Assange’s Limbo in Ecuador’s UK Embassy Likely to Drag On

Two months after he sought refuge in Ecuador's London embassy, WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange was formally granted asylum by Quito on Thursday.

OP-ED: What to Make of the Latest Iranian-Turkish Row

Turkish-Iranian relations have been rocky since the deepening of the Syrian imbroglio, but the latest row suggests a new low.

Corporate Lobbyists Threaten Democracy

Over a month has passed since the United Nations summit on sustainable development concluded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but the world still appears to be unaware of one of the most important statements made during the conference that drew some 50,000 delegates from all over the world.

East End’s First Muslim Mayor Unfazed by Racist Press Attacks

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the “East End", is the historic core of England, the home of the Tower of London, and now it is a Gateway borough to the Olympics.

How a Gay Rights Maverick Helped Topple Iceland’s Govt

By the time the political climate in Iceland was ripe for the Cutlery Revolution, Hörður Torfason was already well practiced at stirring things up.

OP-ED: Weapons into Ploughshares, and Crises into Opportunity

The crisis that started a few years ago with the collapse of major financial institutions in the United States is now centred in Europe and threatens other parts of the world. Many emerging countries in Asia and Latin America that had thus far avoided contamination because of their sound economic and fiscal policies and their timely adoption of domestic consumption stimulus packages are now beginning to experience secondary effects.

TURKEY: Caught Between Syria’s Kurds and a Hard Spot

In a display of muscle-flexing, Turkish tanks this week carried out military exercises on the Syrian border, just a few kilometres away from towns that Syrian Kurds had seized from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

AZERBAIJAN: Signs Point to Russia’s Departure from Gabala Radar Base

It may look like just a 27-year-old radar station in a remote stretch of northern Azerbaijan. But, in reality, Gabala is all about Baku’s desire to assert its own weight as a regional power – even against its onetime patron, Russia.

UZBEKISTAN: Tashkent’s Sticky Fingers Spoiling Foreign Investors’ Appetites

The recent travails in Uzbekistan of Russian cellphone giant MTS – hit by employee arrests and a three-month suspension – highlight the perils for foreigners of doing business in Central Asia’s most populous country.

Investigation Exposes Cruelty at Foie Gras Farms

Roasted foie gras fillet, with fresh chestnuts and soymilk skin. This dish from Mugaritz, considered the third-best restaurant in the world, sounds exotic. But how this "delicacy" - foie gras means "fat liver" - is produced and at what cost have been unmasked in an investigation led by Animal Equality.

Portugal’s Innovative Drug Policy Offers Hope*

Portugal was traditionally one of the European countries with the lowest levels of drug use, until the 1980s and 1990s, when problematic drug abuse, especially of heroin, became a major problem.

Mainstream Rhetoric on Nuclear Power Far From Reality

The catastrophe following the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power reactor in March 2011 has turned the old debate on nuclear power into a war of words between international agencies and independent experts with diametrically opposed views.

Q&A: “In Portugal, We Fight the Illness, Not the People Who Suffer from It”

Portugal’s anti-drug policies have been gaining international visibility since this country began to publish the results of its 2001 decision to eliminate all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs.