DEVELOPMENT-ITALY: Official Development Aid on the Rise

Italy's development aid to countries of the South has climbed to 2.35 billion dollars, or 0.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the government's latest official report.

SCIENCE: ‘Thinking the Future’ at Expo 2000 in Germany

Some of the leading scientists and researchers from all over the world have been 'thinking the future' during discussion events at the World Exposition Expo 2000 in Hanover.

RIGHTS-INDONESIA: Moluccans Seek UN Intervention For Peace

Moluccan community leaders abroad say the Indonesian army is both unable and unwilling to prevent the sectarian violence that plagues their ancestral island home.

POLITICS-SPAIN: Basque Gov’t Demands End to ETA Violence

The Basque nationalist government has demanded that separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) end its violent ways, making the plea just hours after a car bomb exploded in a shopping district of the Spanish capital Wednesday, leaving at least 10 people injured and damaging 27 building.

POLITICS-YUGOSLAVIA: Milosevic Increases His Hold On Power

Changes in the federal constitution of Yugoslavia, adopted at a hurriedly called session of federal parliament last week, have a double effect in the country that is probably facing another war on its soil.

RIGHTS-TURKEY: Journalist Faces Maximum 12 Year Jail Term

Turkey's prominent writer-journalist, Nadire Mater - formally indicted nine months ago for the crime of "belittling and insulting" the Turkish armed forces - is now faced with the prospect of up to 12 years in prison.

DEVELOPMENT-ALBANIA: Italy Pledges 235 Million Dollars in Aid

Italy's current and planned development projects in Albania will cost some 235 million dollars, according to Italian foreign relations minister Lamberto Dini.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Germany Reiterates Commitment to Strategic Partnership

Germany's minister for economic co-operation and development, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul and the federal parliament have reiterated their commitment to assisting African countries in overcoming their pressing poverty-related problems

ECONOMY-PALESTINE: Chinese Shoes Reflect Economic Woes

While Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was preparing this week for next Tuesday's historic summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and US President Bill Clinton, Hebron businessman, Jibreel Natshe, was planning how to scale down his failing shoe factory to a skeleton staff.

CHILDREN-TURKEY: Sexual Abuse, Child Prostitution Increasing Rapidly

Turkey says it is aiming to become the 10th largest economy in the world within the next quarter century, but two reports recently released here suggests that the country turn its attention to its growing social problems instead.

//CORRECTED REPEAT//DEVELOPMENT: Need For Poverty Alleviation Stressed At Berlin Conference

More than new technology and scientific progress are needed to alleviate poverty and fulfil the basic needs of the people, United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, said Tuesday.

DEVELOPMENT: Need For Poverty Alleviation Stressed At Berlin Conference

More than new technology and scientific progress are needed to alleviate poverty and fulfil the basic needs of the people, United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, said Tuesday.

POLITICS-YUGOSLAVIA: Djukanovic’s Apology a Gateway To Truth About Balkan Wars?

Reform-minded Montenegrin President Milo Djuk anovic, who is at odds with the regime of Slobodan Milosevic over democratisa tion and opening towards the West, has tackled a taboo subject that will undou btedly distance him further from Belgrade.

GERMANY-CHINA: Deals With China Back on Track

More than any other stop on his six-nation European tour, Chinese Prime minister Zhu Rongji's stopover in Germany has shown that China is willing to put its anger over the allied bombing of its embassy in Belgrade last year aside and push on with the business of doing business.

DEVELOPMENT: Global Conference To Focus On Mega-Cities’ Future

A three-day Global Conference on the sustainable development of cities will be opened next Tuesday in Berlin by the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

ECONOMY-YUGOSLAVIA: All Is Not Rosy Despite Government Assertions To The Contrary

Judging by the news programmes of Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), the strongest media tool of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, one would believe that Serbia is a thriving, bustling and successful country.

DEVELOPMENT-TURKEY: Dam Floods Historic Monuments

Environmentalists and members of the public have reacted with anger and regret over this weeks flooding of the unique black rose gardens, pistachio fields and invaluable Roman mosaics in the south-east Halfeti countryside of the Sanliurfa province.

POLITICS-YUGOSLAVIA: International Humanitarian Law Under the Spotlight

One year after the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO, intervention against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) over Kosovo, human rights activists are still debating whether the move was in violation of international humanitarian law.

DRUGS-SPAIN: International Smuggling Ring Dismantled

A joint Spanish, Portuguese and United States drug enforcement operation led to the arrest of 21 members of an international drug trafficking ring in northern Spain Monday, on the International Day Against Drug Abuse.

MEDIA-YUGOSLAVIA: Clampdown On Press Freedom Continues

The government clampdown on the media continues in Serbia with the recent arrest of a journalist on charges of espionage.

RIGHTS-SPAIN: NGOs, Opposition Reject Crackdown on Prostitutes

Human rights groups, trade unions and opposition parties in Spain are opposed to a repressive approach to prostitution as sought by the governing centre-right Popular Party (PP), in line with demands by local retailers.