RIGHTS-SPAIN: Gov’t Minister Charged with Blocking Pinochet Case

A criminal complaint filed Friday against Spain's Foreign Minister, Abel Matutes, could open the way for appeals against the British Home Secretary's eventual order to release former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

POLITICS-TURKEY: Life Inside Hizbollah Movement

"We had finally joined our ideal organisation. Now it was time to crush the state through armed struggle. I was so proud," recalls Cesim Dogan, a Hizbollah deserter who has fled to Istanbul from Bingol, Turkey.

RIGHTS-EU: NGOs Call Proposal on Access to Information Overly Restrictive

Human rights groups and other non- governmental organisations (NGOs) are challenging draft regulations on public access to European Union documentation Which, they say, could undermine civil society's access to information and ability to influence decisions.

POLITICS-RUSSIA: Neighbours Support Military Action In Chechnya

Russia's Acting President Vladimir Putin has secured the support of the leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) for Moscow's military action in Chechnya.

DEVELOPMENT-LATIN AMERICA: New Challenges

"Although the era of fragility and hyperinflation is behind us, problems of Latin America have not gone," according to Enrique Iglesias, President of the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB).

POPULATION-GREECE: Europe’s Gateway For Illegal Immigration

Over the years, Greece's beautiful sunny shores and its tolerant governments have served as a welcome mat for many of the Middle East and Africa's political refugees.

RIGHTS: EU Unlikely To Endorse U.S. Proposal To Censure China

The European Union (EU) appears unlikely to heed calls from rights groups to support a U.S.-sponsored proposal to censure China for "deteriorating" human rights practices at the annual meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Geneva in March.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-TURKEY: Argentine Film Mirrors Istanbul Mothers’ Cry For Their Disappeared “Sons”

Latin American film director Marco Bechis's award winning movie "Garage Olimpo", seen as a mirror image of Turkey's own experience of repression, has been stirring complex but strong feelings among audiences here.

POLITICS: Germans Fed Up Of Party Funding Scandal

Sighs of relief swept through Germany Sunday after media reports claimed former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said, in a statement, he was ready to disclose the names of the secret donors to his party, who are at the heart of a political scandal that has rocked Germany for nearly four weeks now.

ENVIRONMENT: Biosafety Negotiations Under Threat

It is unclear if any agreement can be reached at the transboundary trade of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in Montreal, as the European Union (EU) insists food safety and labelling concerns be taken into consideration, while others, like the United States, prefer a trade-friendly agenda.

CONFLICT-GERMANY: Counting The Cost Of Involvement In Kosovo

Nearly one year after breaking the post-WW II taboos and agreeing to joining the U.S.-led NATO airstrikes against Yugoslavia, Germany is now counting the cost of the country's involvement in Kosovo.

POLITICS-SPAIN: ETA Attack Splits Basque Nationalist Front

A Spanish army officer was killed Friday morning in a car bomb explosion blamed on the illegal Basque separatist group, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA, Basque Homeland and Liberty), triggering a rupture in the Basque nationalist front, which had included moderates as well as ETA backers.

CONFLICT-RUSSIA: Disagreement Over War Strategy In Chechnya

As Russian officials argue the armed groups in Chechnya must be eliminated to ensure military victory, Chechen activists and non-governmental organisations (ngos) think otherwise. All agree, however, that Chechnya's post-war rehabilitation will be the trickiest one.

POLITICS-TURKEY: Cleaning Up The Spy Agency

Turkey's security services have embarked on a clean up operation of strange bedfellows as the armed conflict with the rebels of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) has come to a standstill.

POLITICS-YUGOSLAVIA: Speculation Abounds In Warlord’s Murder

Speculation abounds following the weekend murder of Serbian warlord Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan who died in a hail of bullets in the lobby of a Belgrade hotel.

RIGHTS-INDONESIA: Lifting Of Arms Embargo Slammed

The European Union (EU) turned a deaf ear to protests and pleadings from human rights groups and announced this week that it would not extend a four-month arms embargo imposed on Indonesia last September.

DISARMAMENT: Britain To Tighten Arms Sales Regulations

Close on the heels of Britain's pre- Christmas pledge to write off all debts owed by the world's most impoverished countries, London is to ban the use of export credits for arms sales to 63 nations.

RIGHTS-TURKEY: Draft Bill Suspended As Women Seek Equality

The new draft legislation, introduced in December, to provide equality in Turkey, has been suspended following opposition by conservative legislators.

DEVELOPMENT: Germany Declares 2000 ‘Year of Global Food Security’

Germany's development ministry, which this week declared 2000 the 'year of global food security', will work with multilateral organisations and regional development banks so that "everything is done" to alleviate hunger, according to a senior government official.

RIGHTS-TURKEY: EU To Decide On The Fate Of Kurdish Rebel Leader

With an eye on the European Union membership, Turkey's government coalition has decided to postpone hanging Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan until a European rights court has given its judgement on the case.

//REPEATING//POLITICS-YUGOSLAVIA: Serbia’s Fragmented Opposition Close Ranks

Serbia's fragmented opposition parties have closed ranks in an attempt to topple the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, in office since 1990.