BULGARIA: Secrets Will Be Out

The Bulgarian parliament finally adopted a much delayed law Wednesday to open most of the country's archives of former communist secret services.

MOLDOVA: Breakaway Region Prepares for Illegitimate Election

This Sunday Transnistria will hold its fourth presidential election, and President Igor Smirnov looks set to win a vote that will be ignored by most of the world as this ghost state is still officially considered part of the Republic of Moldova.

ICELAND: Aluminium Worries Environmentalists

Nature conservationists are becoming increasingly more concerned that Iceland will soon have more aluminium plants than it can handle because it has an abundant supply of cheap, renewable energy.

WORLD AIDS DAY: Bureaucracy Delays Treatment in Russia

The budget for treatment of HIV and AIDS has been doubled in Russia, but patients are complaining they still do not have access to adequate treatment.

UKRAINE: Two Years On, Orange Revolution a Distant Memory

Following the second anniversary of the 'orange revolution', a popular uprising against election rigging that rewarded pro-Western forces, the 'orange' supporters are not in a celebratory mood, as the man they ousted has returned to his post ever more powerful.

RIGHTS-RUSSIA: Peace Descends, But Abuses Continue

Three human rights organisations have said that abductions and torture are rampant in Chechnya despite the relative calm.

RIGHTS: Hungarian Roma Flee to Sweden

In an embarrassing development for Hungary, Sweden has for the past weeks received a growing number of asylum applications from mostly ethnic Roma citizens who complain of discrimination in the fellow European Union (EU) member state.

BALKANS: Forget the Bombing, Come Over

Three Balkans nations, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro, have been invited to join the Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme by leaders gathered at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) summit in Riga, Latvia.

RIGHTS: EU Glosses over Violations in Russia

Finnish human rights groups say that European Union leaders failed to raise human violations in Russia effectively enough at their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin here last week.

BALKANS: Trial to Proceed Without Accused

The trial of ultranationalist Serb leader Vojislav Seselj will proceed in his absence at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague in the Netherlands, although the leader of former paramilitaries has been in detention since February 2003.

GERMANY: Higher Education Sinks Low

German universities, pre-eminent in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities in the early part of the 20th century, no longer rank among the world's most elite. The nation's seats of higher learning find themselves buffeted by cost pressures and declining standards - but amid recent hopes of some revival.

BALKANS: Organised Crime Behind the Assassination of Former PM

The single inside witness from the organised crime group accused of killing reform-oriented former prime minister Zoran Djindjic has finally confirmed the indictment and what was long believed - it was the Serbian mafia that committed the crime.

EASTERN EUROPE: EU No Instant Paradise

Nationalism, corruption, populism and violence are terms increasingly associated with some of the events seen in the Central and Eastern European countries that joined the European Union (EU) in May 2004. But whether there are reasons for concern is still open to debate.

UKRAINE: Holding Hands with East and West

Memories of the 'orange revolution' that brought western-minded Viktor Yushchenko to the presidency are slowly fading away as Ukraine returns to a more Russian friendly foreign policy, without neglecting its western aspirations.

ICELAND: Migration Appears Here Too

Since May this year, there has been a huge influx of foreigners to Iceland. That is quite striking, considering that only 20 years ago Iceland was considered almost ethnically 'pure'.

BALKANS: The Veil Comes Down, Again

It was 1950, towards the end of September, when hundreds of Muslim women came on to the streets of Bosnian capital Sarajevo and ceremonially took off their veils. The symbolic act was intended to mark the end of an era when they left their homes 'covered'.

RIGHTS: Roma Facing New Threats

Tiny Slovenia is the only former Yugoslav republic that prides itself on full EU membership, but its human rights record remains under serious doubt.

RUSSIA: Alcohol Goes the Wrong Way

Russian authorities are searching for new solutions to tackle alcoholism after reports started to emerge last month that thousands of people may have died from consumption of the popular home-made alcohol Samogon. Low-grade industrially manufactured alcohol may have gone into the drink, according to some reports.

BALKANS: A Nuclear Light Goes Out

Two reactors at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant in Bulgaria that are considered dangerous will shut down Dec. 31. And just in time, as Bulgaria joins the European Union the next day, together with neighbour Romania.

DISARMAMENT-BALKANS: A Lottery for Safer Surroundings

An unusual lottery is taking place this month in Bosnia, where the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is offering motor scooters and kitchen appliances to individuals who hand over to the authorities any weapons they have been keeping illegally in their homes.

POLITICS-FRANCE: Time for a Woman President?

The extraordinary triumph of Ségolène Royal in the Socialist Party's primaries for France's April 2007 presidential elections reflects the growing global trend in which women have become fundamental actors in shaping the destinies of their nations.