ENVIRONMENT: ‘Show Off a Failed Dam’

A novel solution has been proposed to block the building of a controversial dam that sits over a fissure and that environmentalists say will harm plant and animal life.

BOSNIA: Elections Fail to Promise Unity

The results emerging from the crucial general elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina Sunday confirm the deep ethnic divisions between its Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs.

ENERGY-PORTUGAL: Riding the Wave of the Future

Atlantic Ocean waves are to light up 1,500 homes in the north of Portugal. The first 2.25 megawatts of electricity produced from wave power will be brought ashore at Aguçadoura, on the northern coast, as of October.

ENVIRONMENT: Dangerous Nuclear Hangover To Go

A decision to send 2.5 tonnes of radioactive nuclear rods back to Russia finally ends concerns over the presence of the nuclear waste near capital Belgrade.

MEDIA: Another Casualty in Chechnya

A year after elections, little promise is in sight for the development of free and independent media in the autonomous republic of Chechnya.

RELIGION: Muslims Offered Italian Values

Interior Minister Giuliano Amato proposed in August that Muslim organisations in Italy will need to subscribe to a Charter of Values to signal their readiness to be fully integrated into Italian society and its political culture.

SPAIN: Latin Kings Gang a “Cultural Association” in Barcelona

The Spanish chapter of the Latin Kings, a gang that emerged in Chicago decades ago and spread throughout the United States and more recently to Spain, is undergoing a legalisation and integration process in Spain's northeastern Catalonia region, although its members continue to be targets for law enforcement.

ENVIRONMENT: Funders Pressured to Abandon Russian Pipeline

Encouraged by a Russian government decision last week to enforce tougher environmental regulations for the controversial Sakhalin II oil project, international environmentalists say that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) should change course and withhold funding for the project or risk violating domestic Russian law.

HUNGARY: Politics Slides Into Dark Days

Riots have broken out for the second consecutive night in Budapest following revelations that Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány had lied to the electorate in order to obtain re- election for the socialists.

BALKANS: Hollywood Brings Back Old Scenes

Hollywood is shooting in Bosnia these days, and bringing back scenarios of conflict long before the film gets made.

HEALTH: France Set to Ban Public Smoking

New evidence on the harmful effects of passive smoking has led France to consider a total ban on smoking in work and public places.

RELIGION: First Rabbis Ordained in Germany Since the Holocaust

The ordination of three rabbis in Germany - the first such event since the holocaust - has been lauded by politicians and Jewish organisations as a step forward in Germany's long battle to come to terms with its traumatic history.

ICELAND: All Set for Commercial Whaling

Commercial whaling may start in Iceland again if the owner of the Hvalur boats has his way.

BALKANS: And Now for Some Mergers

It seemed impossible only some years ago, but ex-Yugoslav nations that fell apart in bloody wars are coming together again in economic cooperation.

ENVIRONMENT-PORTUGAL: Lack of Waste Treatment Mortgages the Future

Portugal recycles less of its chemical waste than any of the other 15 countries that were members of the European Union (EU) prior to April 2004, according to a recent report by the British Institute for Public Policy Research.

SERBIA: Health Goes Up in Smoke

Serbian health authorities have finally confirmed what was long suspected - the nation tops the list in Europe for lung cancers.

RUSSIA: Politics Not Women’s Business

Russian women are turning increasingly to business given the new economic opportunities but keeping away from politics, social leaders say.

RIGHTS-EUROPE: The Ghost of Nationalism Resurfaces

Tensions between Hungary and Slovakia have risen to unexpected heights after a series of xenophobic incidents, with members of the sizeable Hungarian minority in Slovakia being targeted by Slovak nationalist youths.

RIGHTS: Italy Builds Its Own Separation Wall

'Stop the Wall', say the posters on the three-metre high metal panels that have come up to isolate the migrant estate on Anelli Road from their surroundings in Padua.

ENVIRONMENT: France Confronts an Italian Invasion

Burgundy no longer means wines and colours to French farmers these days. It is now a region being devastated by the locust Calliptamus Italicus.

ENERGY-SPAIN: Backyard Oil Prospects Gain Appeal

Oil explorers are once again fanning out through a vast swath of land at the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains in Spain's northeastern Catalonia region as record high oil prices revive interest in this area and several other prospects on the Iberian Peninsula.