INTER PRESS SERVICE

The extreme hot summer in Europe is restricting nuclear energy generation and showing up the limits of nuclear power, leading environmental activists and scientists say.

BALKANS: Sanctions Can Be Healthy

It was only after a sharp rise in the number of patients with the same symptoms in southern Serbian town Leskovac that doctors began to look for the cause.

DEATH PENALTY: Europe Squeezes Russia

Though Russia first declared its willingness to abolish the death penalty more than a decade ago, that determination has foundered because many legislators believe it is a necessary tool to fight terrorism.

EUROPE: Global Warming, Not Just Heat Wave

The heat wave sweeping Europe is a direct consequence of the warming of the earth's atmosphere, experts say.

CULTURE: Germany Takes a Fresh Look in the Mirror

By IPS Correspondents

"Can I be proud of being German?" "Who am I?"

RIGHTS-FRANCE: Assault Makes Zidane an Immigrant Hero

French football star Zinedine Zidane could have become a bigger hero among immigrant groups after he brought down Italian player Marco Materazzi with a head butt during the World Cup final in Berlin Jul. 9.

SPORT: World Cup Shows Different Faces of Immigration

Anyone unfamiliar with football could be excused for asking whether Italy was playing the World Cup final with France or with a team from Africa.

BALKANS: One Way to Find Harmony

The biggest modern music festival in the Balkans ended Monday morning at the Petrovaradin fortress in the northern Serbian town Novi Sad. The festival was about more than music.

BRITAIN: New Shock Waves Come A Year After Bombing

By Sanjay Suri

Britain came to a standstill for two-minute silence Friday to mourn the 52 people who died in the London bombings Jul. 7 last year. But the silence, in which Muslims joined, did not quieten a growing unease between Muslims and the rest.

SOCIETY: What Will Become of the Berlin Wall?

By IPS Correspondents

Among the packs of day-trippers and tourists strolling around central Berlin, one question is repeatedly heard: "Are we in the east or west?" or "Was this the communist side?"

BALKANS: Milosevic Held Guilty, Still Not Too Late for Serbia

The Serbian Supreme Court has finally confirmed that former president Slobodan Milosevic did order the execution of his political opponents. What has been known for years is now official.

RUSSIA: Increasing Wealth Fails to Reduce Poverty

The economic growth of recent years has failed to improve the lives of vast numbers of deprived people across Russia, experts say.

SPORT: World Cup Scores for Integration, For Now

By IPS Correspondents

A German flag the size of a bath towel flaps in front of the Anadou bakery, one of umpteen meeting points for Turkish immigrants in central Berlin.

BALKANS: Hate Speech Deepens Old Divisions

Hate speech has returned to the Balkans, bringing back memories of the 1990s when such talk against the ethnicity of others was routine.

DEVELOPMENT: Caught Between Fringe and Mainstream

By Sanjay Suri

The content of speeches at the world assembly of civil society groups in Glasgow last week was indication of course of where they stood in relation to the world. But indicative also was where they sat when they spoke.

RUSSIA: Crackdown on “Extremism” Worries Opposition

For most of the past week, Russian parliamentarians have been deliberating a bill that would allow the courts to shut down political parties and organisations for slandering government officials or threatening mass protests.

ENVIRONMENT-EUROPE: Gas Pipeline Threatens Fragile Marine Ecosystems

The North European Gas pipeline (NEGP), a Russian-German joint venture to deliver Russian natural gas to Europe in 2010, will destroy rich and fragile marine ecosystems along the Polish and German coastlines, prominent environmental activists say.

RIGHTS-BALKANS: Justice for War Victims Achievable, but Effort Required

Justice for the dozens of thousands of victims of the Balkans wars is achievable, but the truth about war crimes has to be established at all levels and among all the former warring nations in order to start the reconciliation process, agreed experts at a conference here.

RUSSIA: Rising Youth Gang Activity Worries Officials