ENVIRONMENT-RUSSIA: World’s Biggest Forests in Danger

Illegal logging is killing off the world's largest virgin forests located in Russia, a new environmental atlas shows.

FINANCE-FRANCE: Top Banks Charged with Money Laundering

Major banks in France have been charged with money-laundering through Israel.

SPAIN: Tax Havens Stymie Judge Garzon’s Investigations

Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón has run up against the airtight secrecy of authorities in several tax havens, which is frustrating his campaign of investigations into alleged money laundering, tax evasion and embezzlement of funds, and even possible blackmail payments to the illegal Basque organisation ETA.

/MAY DAY/LABOUR-GERMANY: Threat of Major Strike Said to Bode Ill

With the German economy just rising out of the doldrums and unemployment showing signs of slowing, the decision by the powerful metalworkers union IG Metall to ballot for a strike action over a 6.5 percent pay rise seems questionable to many economists, politicians and employers' groups.

/MAY DAY/LABOUR-BRITAIN: Blair Puts Brakes on Privatisation

The national budget released this month has eased growing confrontation between trade unions and Prime Minister Tony Blair's New Labour government.

/MAY DAY/LABOUR-FRANCE: Workers Look Back to a Leader They Could Not Elect

Outgoing Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin is appearing taller in defeat as French unions prepare for a kind of May Day rally they did not foresee.

FINANCE-EUROPE: No End in Sight to Fishy Subsidies

Spain has led a move to maintain massive subsidies for fishermen within the European Union (EU), activists say.

POLITICS-BRITAIN: A Le Pen May be Rising Across the Channel

The success of far-right candidate Le Pen in the first round of the French presidential election has sent a shudder through campaigning in next week's elections to hundreds of local councils in Britain.

VATICAN: Zero Tolerance for Paedophile Priests

United States cardinals decided Wednesday in the Vatican to apply a "zero tolerance" policy to eradicate sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy, at the first meeting ever called by a pope to tackle the problem of paedophile priests.

POLITICS – SLOVAKIA: Relations with Hungary Look Set to Improve

Strained relations between European Union, EU, candidate states Hungary and Slovakia appear set to improve dramatically after a change of government in Budapest.

POLITICS-FRANCE: France Rallies Against Le Pen

Janine is regretting that Sunday picnic. It was warm and sunny, and the countryside had looked more attractive than the ballot box. So Jeanne (27) went out and returned only late in the evening, too late to vote.

POLITICS-SERBIA: The Right Rises Now in Serbia

The new law to extradite Serbs suspected of war crimes to an international war crime tribunal at The Hague has provoked strong nationalist and rightist sentiments.

POLITICS-FRANCE: Vote for Le Pen Brings Crisis

The strong vote for the far right candidate Jean Marie Le Pen has driven France into an unprecedented political and institutional crisis.

POLITICS-FRANCE: More a Vote Against Than a Vote For

âÇô The first round of voting in the French presidential elections Sunday will be marked by a strong protest vote against mainstream parties, analysts say.

POLITICS-RUSSIA: Hitler’s Name Brings New Fear

Moscow is learning to fear April 20, the date Adolf Hitler was born. Russian skinheads who have made Hitler their hero are expected to step up attacks on people they see as foreigners around then.

RIGHTS-RUSSIA: Russia Faces A Tide Of Racial Violence

Despite repeated official pledges to crack down on extreme ultra-nationalists, Russia is still dealing with ugly spates of grass-roots racism and xenophobia.

HEALTH-ROMANIA: Romania’s AIDS-Stricken Children Live in Shadow of Death

The living conditions of thousands Romanian children infected by the HIV/AIDS virus have improved in the last decade, but hundreds now face the risk of dying rapidly because the medication they need to keep them alive is no longer available, analysts say.

POLITICS-FRANCE: Scientists Urge the EU to Stop Cooperation with Israel

A group of some 300 French prominent scientists and university professors have urged the European Union to stop all academic co-operation with Israel.

RIGHTS-SPAIN: Amnesty Int’l Reports Abuse, Torture of Immigrants

Spain's security forces mistreat and torture immigrants and members of ethnic minorities with impunity, human rights watchdog Amnesty International stated in a new report issued in Madrid Tuesday.

RIGHTS-EUROPE: More Access Sought for Aid Workers

The aid chief of the European Union has condemned Israel and Russia for blocking aid to needy people.

LABOUR: Trade Unions Bring Italy to a Halt

Italy was paralysed Tuesday by an eight-hour nationwide strike, the first in 20 years, in protest against the labour reforms of the conservative government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that would make it easier to fire workers.