RIGHTS-UZBEKISTAN: Plight of Battered Women “Bleak,” Says Report

The plight of wives who are battered by their husbands in Uzbekistan is "undeniably bleak" despite the country's declarations and international commitments to protect women from violence, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/THEATRE-PALESTINE: Reflecting Pain, Horror and Desperation

With the continuation of the intifada - an uprising - and Israel's sealing-off of the Gaza Strip along with many towns and villages in the West Bank, Palestinians are again made to live their lives in a virtual state of siege.

DEVELOPMENT: European Commission Shakes Up Aid, Trade Machinery

The European Commission has announced reforms of its aid and trade functions that it says are designed to increase efficiency.

POLITICS-YUGOSLAVIA: Yugoslavia President Aims to Save Federation

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica faces his federation's worst crisis, precipitated by the extradition of his predecessor, Slobodan Milosevic, to a UN war crimes tribunal whose jurisdiction the deposed strongman refused to recognise.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-ZANZIBAR: Behind the Veil

Sayyida Salme was one of the most extraordinary women of the 18th century. Born into the closed community of the Zanzibar court, she broke with tradition and taught herself to write and from there went on to become the first author from the region to write extensively about life in her tiny country.

POLITICS: Yugoslavia Donors Conference Buoyed by Milosevic Extradition

International donors and creditors pledged 1.28 billion dollars in aid and loans to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) Friday, one day after Serbian authorities handed over former president Slobodan Milosevic to a UN war crimes tribunal.

POLITICS-YUGOSLAVIA: Milosevic Extradition Opens a Can of Worms

The Serbian government may have dodged a bullet from international donors by handing over former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to a UN war crimes tribunal Thursday but it appeared to open a domestic can of worms.

ENVIRONMENT-EUROPE: Olive Subsidies Deemed Harmful

European Union (EU) agricultural ministers are propping up the region's olive industry at the expense of the environment, say conservation pressure groups World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Birdlife International.

DEVELOPMENT: EU Action Plan Brings Gender to the Fore

The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, has agreed on a new action plan to integrate gender equality into all its development policies and projects, but rights activists warn that the effort could be held hostage to shrinking gender budget lines.

POPULATION-NORWAY: Immigrants Succeeding in Small Business Sector

Ethnic minorities in Oslo seem to find more entrepreneurial success than Norwegian-owned small businesses, according to new report.

ENVIRONMENT-RUSSIA: Chemical Weapon Stocks Pose Threat

Environmentalists warn that Russia faces potentially huge health and ecological hazards from its chemical weapons dumps, many dating to World War II. Moscow had pledged to destroy the munitions but has moved slowly, citing insufficient funds.

POLITICS-EUROPE: Baltic States Welcome Active US Security Role

The Baltic States are welcoming recent statements by US President George W. Bush supporting NATO enlargement next year as indicating a counterbalance to pro-Russian and anti Baltic positions of some influential European politicians.

MEDIA-TURKEY: Journalists Applaud President’s Refusal to Sign New Media Law

Journalists, media workers and opposition groups are hailing the refusal of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, to sign a controversial new media law that the president said would concentrate too much power into the hands of a few big media houses.

ROMANIA: Education a Pipe Dream for Many Romanian Children

Facing a shortage of financial and human resources, Romania needs to update and improve all aspects of primary and secondary education in order to raise the quality of education and to stop the continuous increase in the number of school drop-outs, according to specialists.

CULTURE-FRANCE: Poor Boys Realise Porno Movie Fantasies in Collective Rapes

Witch or whore? For Saphi, a 17-year-old girl from the small French city of Sarcelles, some 20 km north of Paris, the alternative was easy. Despite pressure from her peers, she decided not to have a boyfriend from her neighbourhood, as that would label her a whore.

RELIGION-SERBIA: Muslim School to Open in Belgrade

For the first time in more than a century, an Islamic high school, or medressa, is to open its doors here.

DEVELOPMENT: The South is not Poor – It Has Been Impoverished

The countries of the South, whether "underdeveloped" or "developing", are not poor but have been impoverished, say Spain's bishops in a document to be read out by the Social Pastoral Episcopal Commission on Sunday, when the national Day of Charity is celebrated on the occasion of the feast of Corpus Christi.

TRADE: EU Offers Incentives to ‘Green’ Developing Countries

The European Union is looking for ways to simplify its rules for imports from developing countries and to increase incentives for trading partners who respect international environmental and social standards.

RIGHTS-SPAIN: Journalists Unite to Condemn ETA

Thirty-six journalist organisations gathered Wednesday in the Spanish capital to protest the attacks their colleagues have suffered at the hands of the Basque terrorist group ETA.

RIGHTS-ITALY: Abortion Law Under Fire from Right-wing Gov’t

Italy's new conservative government defended its proposal Wednesday to amend the law that legalised abortion in 1978, in the face of the centre-left opposition's heated reaction.

ENVIRONMENT-EUROPE: Activists Score EU Condemnation of Bush

A leading environmental group has blasted European Union environment ministers for failing to reflect what it called "global outrage" over US President George W. Bush's rejection of the Kyoto Protocol on climate control.