POLITICS-YUGOSLAVIA: Government Turns Up The Heat On Opposition

Political analysts here say they are worried by the increased vitriol emanating from the Slobodan Milosevic regime.

POLITICS-SPAIN: Tough Sentences in Connection with ‘Dirty War’

A Spanish court handed down sentences Wednesday totalling 345 years for five men convicted of involvement in the 1983-86 "dirty war" against the Basque separatist movement ETA, waged by the interior ministry under the socialist government of Felipe González (1982-96).

EXHIBITIONS: Advertising misery: an interview with Sebastiao Salgado

Benetton's Oliviero Toscani uses shocking human images to sell clothes. Sebastiao Salgado photographs human misery to advertise human misery.

MIGRATION-GERMANY: Berlin Govt. Keen to Import Computer Experts, Public Critical

Germany's red-green coalition government is trying hard to encourage computer experts from India, South America and Eastern Europe to help the German industry keep pace with the fast developing information technology.

POLITICS-YUGOSLAVIA: Opposition Parties Ride Wave of Public Support

Serbian opposition parties may face a tough battle to topple the Slobodan Milosevic regime, but they can do so if they remain united, political analysts here say.

POLITICS-YUGOSLAVIA: Fresh Start for the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal?

The start of the trial of Momcilo Krajisnik, one of the most influential Bosnian Serb leaders, before the War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia last week, has been applauded by the international community and condemned by Russia. Krajisnik was arrested in his home in Pale, near Sarajevo, over a week ago. He has been accused of creating conditions for the extermination and forced deportation of some 10,000 non-Serbs from at least 14 municipalities in Bosnia - Bijeljina, Brcko, Zvornik and Prijedor, among others. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's (NATO) secretary- general, Lord George Robertson, said in Washington that "Krajisnik's arrest (and trial) is a message to all others who are indicted by the Tribunal". He said this represented a new phase in the close co-operation between NATO and the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal. Tribunal prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, agrees. She says the NATO led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) was playing an important role in bringing indicted persons to justice. In a recent interview with the French daily 'Le Monde', Del Ponte, who was a General Prosecutor of Switzerland before she had joined Tribunal six months ago, expressed satisfaction with the fact that French soldiers arrested Bosnian Serb leader. According to Del Ponte, Krajisnik's arrest is "an extremely significant development which demonstrates the Prosecutor's strategy of indicting persons at the topmost levels of responsibility". She called on the international community to insist on the apprehension and surrender of all other indicted persons, especially former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, who she said, should stand trial jointly with Krajisnik.

POLITICS-SPAIN: Two Women Elected to Maximum Legislative Posts

Two women, Esperanza Aguirre and Luisa Fernanda Rudi, assumed their posts Wednesday as the highest direct representatives of the Spanish people after being elected by broad margins as president of the Senate and of the Congress of Deputies, respectively.

RIGHTS-SPAIN: ETA Attack Endangers All Journalists, Says RSF

The illegal Basque separatist organisation ETA (Euskadi ta AzkatasunaBasque Homeland and Freedom) has put all Spanish journalists in danger, declared Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSFJournalists Without Borders), Tuesday, as it condemned Monday's bomb attack against a radio programme director.

POLITICS: European Union Warned of Dangers of Neglecting Montenegro

The Yugoslav republic of Montenegro is in "urgent need" of assistance "in order to ensure the survival of democratic government and to avoid serious crisis in the region," the European Council said Friday.

EUROPEAN UNION: Leaders Set 10-Year Goal to Surpass the US

The European Union (EU) will economically outshine the United States within 10 years, according to the goal set by the European bloc's three presidents and 15 prime ministers during a two-day meeting in the Portuguese capital.

LABOUR-EUROPE: Unions Call for Equitable Distribution of Wealth

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is going before the European Union (EU) at its special summit, held Thursday and Friday in Lisbon, to demand the implementation of measures that ensure better distribution of the benefits arising from economic growth and greater respect for social and labour-related advances.

RIGHTS: Yugoslav Forces Used Rape as Ethnic Cleansing Weapon in Kosovo, HRW

A leading human rights body has found that rape and other forms of sexual violence were used in Kosovo in 1999 as weapons of war and instruments of systematic "ethnic cleansing".

RIGHTS-ITALY: Rights of the Child a Pillar of Development Aid

The Italian Foreign Ministry has made protection of children in the developing South one of the pillars of its development aid policy.

DEVELOPMENT-TRADE: Chocolate Vote Threatens Cocoa Producing Industry

The European Union 'chocolate directive', which allows chocolate producers to replace cocoa butter with cheaper vegetable fats, could result in an estimated loss of 800 million United States Dollars for cocoa producing countries, critics say.

POLITICS-YUGOSLAVIA: Government, Opposition in Separate Moves to End Isolation

Hoping to end the isolation of the Belgrade government Yugoslavia is seeking new friends in what critics call "remote countries" little known by the Serbian public.

POLITICS-SPAIN: End of 25-Year Transition from ‘Franquismo’

The centre-right's triumph in Sunday's elections in Spain marked the end of a period of transition from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1939-75), and of the "Felipe Gonzalez era" in the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE).

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Tourism Linked To Sustainable Development

African tourism has spiralled upwards in the last years, with the continent achieving growth rates that surpass the world average.

ENVIRONMENT: Desertification Tackled

Experts from 30 countries in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean have agreed on South-South cooperation projects to combat desertification which forces people to migrate to cities or neigbouring countries to eke a living.

POLITICS-RUSSIA: Presidential Campaign Heats Up

Like an artists palate, the colours of Russia's crucial presidential campaign are beginning to run.

FINANCE-GERMANY: Bank Megamerger Changes Rules of the Game

The announced merger of Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank to create the world's largest bank in asset terms - worth 1,2 trillion United States Dollars - is yet another sign of the increased need for large companies to fall back on economies of scale to compete on the global market place.

TRADE-EU: EU Study Accused Of “Pro-Liberalisation Bias”

A comprehensive critique of a Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA), commissioned by the European Commission, is drawing fire from Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) for failing to take account of significant drivers of trade liberalisation.