Europe Archives

POLITICS-FRANCE: Government Revokes It’s Own Law On Illegal Immigrants

The Socialist-led French government has revoked its own decision to install special tribunals at the country's international airports to deal with undocumented immigrants who enter the country.

POLITICS-BRITAIN: Tony Blair Faces A New Domestic Disorder

By IPS Correspondents

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was not pleased when a Labour Party MP welcomed him on his "current visit" to Britain.

RIGHTS-SLOVAKIA: Neo Nazism Rears Its Ugly Head

By IPS Correspondents

Despite recent massive police operations against skinhead groups, neo-Nazism is a dangerous and growing problem in Slovakia, police and human rights activists say.

SERBIA-POLITICS: Tribunal Makes Last Effort To Collect Firm Evidence Against Milosevic

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic

As the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) makes its last effort to collect firm evidence against Slobodan Milosevic, the former leader is peacefully awaiting the opening of his trial on February 12, his legal advisers say.

POLITICS-BRITAIN: Mother of Parliaments Prepares For An Elected Aristocracy

By IPS Correspondents

The ways of the Commons are coming at last to the Lords in Britain. Under a new proposal at least 40 per cent of the members of the House of Lords will be elected.

FRANCE-POLITICS: French Politicians Woo The Electorate

By Julio Godoy

It is election time in France and most of the leading politicians, right and left wing, are expected attend the second World Social Forum against market liberalism and globilisation which opens next week in the Brazilian city of Porto Allegre.

POLITICS: EU Likely to Impose ‘Smart Sanctions’ on Zimbabwe

By IPS Correspondents

European Union foreign ministers may seek to impose targeted 'smart sanctions' against Zimbabwe after the southern African country failed to give adequate assurances on press freedom or detail how international observers will be able to monitor upcoming presidential elections.

MEDIA-RUSSIA: Russians Shrug Off Press Freedom Concerns

By IPS Correspondents

When Russia's last remaining independent national television station, TV6, abruptly went off air recently the event was met by somewhat muted public response.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-FINLAND: Exhibition Launches Fresh View of Africa

By IPS Correspondents

Popular images of Africa in Finland remain rooted in crude cultural stereotypes despite, or maybe because of, years of development cooperation with different African countries.

TERRORISM-BRITAIN: National Policies Rest On The Meaning Of A Word

By IPS Correspondents

Critical foreign and domestic policies in Britain are beginning to depend on a definition of terrorism.

ECONOMY: NGOs Stress Need to Reform World Bank and IMF

By IPS Correspondents

It is time to reform the economic reformists, members of NGOs recommended at a meeting in Vienna last week.

SPAIN: Cela, Literature’s Irreverent ‘Señor’, Dies at 85

By Tito Drago

Camilo José Cela, Spain's outspoken writer of the 20th century and winner of the Nobel and Cervantes prizes for literature, died of heart failure Thursday in Madrid, where he had been hospitalised for the last week due to cardio-respiratory problems. He was 85.

POLITICS-RUSSIA: Russia Cracks Down on Graft

By IPS Correspondents

A crackdown on Russia's endemic graft was one of President Vladimir Putin key electoral pledges, and the Kremlin seems determined to deliver.

ECONOMY-SYRIA: Trying To Capture The Elusive Tourism Butterfly

By IPS Correspondents

Syria, like much of the world, is suffering the economic effects of the attacks on the United States on September 11 last year.

RIGHTS-RUSSIA: Kremlin Voices Concern Over Russia’s Homeless Kids

By IPS Correspondents

In the wake of drastic economic and social transformations, including deterioration of once centralised infrastructure, Russia now faces immense challenges in trying to protect its' youth.

RIGHTS: Hungarian Status Law Comes Under Fire

By IPS Correspondents

Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, Mikulas Dzurinda, has accused the European Commission, EC, of taking Slovakia's side over a contentious new law guaranteeing rights for the country's 500,000 strong ethnic Hungarian minority.

POLITICS-FRANCE: Corruption Scandal Haunts Presidential Elections

By Julio Godoy

A corruption scandal that goes back to the late 1980s is haunting the French presidential electoral campaign.

CULTURE-SERBIA: Selling Kidneys Means Survival For Some Serbs

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic

For weeks now, a local paper in the northern Serbian town of Novi Sad has been carrying an advertisement in the classified column under the title "Children that need to be taken care of".

DEVELOPMENT-RUSSIA: Infrastructure Woes Worsened by Cold Winter

By IPS Correspondents

As Russia ends its long annual festive season many regions face a grim reminder of the country's infrastructure problems which have been worsened by the cold weather.

POLITICS: Romania in NATO Membership Push

By IPS Correspondents

With less than one year before the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO, issues new invitations to hopefuls in Eastern Europe, Romania is trying to boost its chances particularly in light of the focus on global security risks.