POLITICS-YUGOSLAVIA/KOSOVO: Rebel Defeats May Be Self-Inflicted

Only a few months ago it seemed to be poised to sweep through the entire region, sweeping up territory and supporters at a rapid pace. Yet today the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) appears to have disappeared as quickly as it arrived.

POLITICS-GERMANY: SPD Victory Promises To Turn Western Europe ‘Red’

Almost all western Europe will be taking the leftward path if social democrat Gerhard Schroeder manages to dislodge Chancellor Helmut Kohl in Sunday's general elections here.

CINEMA: Saving Private Ryan From Europe

From anyone's viewpoint, Steven Spielberg's latest epic 'Saving Private Ryan' is a remarkable directorial tour de force - brilliantly rendered and performed. The movie has been a huge success in the United States since it opened mid- summer, and now is doing brisk business at the box office here.

RIGHTS-YUGOSLAVIA: Deaths In The Hague ‘Justify’ Belgrade Stance

Belgrade officials are parrying complaints about their lack of cooperation with a U.N. mandated war crimes tribunal by "exploiting" the deaths of two Serb detainees awaiting trial by its judges, say observers here.

RIGHTS-SPAIN: Hung Parliament to Decide on Abortion

A tied parliament will rule on the decriminalisation of abortion here Tuesday with the 'fors' and 'againsts' running neck and neck, while the remaining 20 independent nationalists could tip the balance either way.

REFUGEES-KOSOVO: Aid Workers Prepare For Worst

With the approach of the harsh Balkans winter, aid workers in Serbia's Kosovo province say they are "preparing for the worst."

DEVELOPMENT: Popular Movements Fight Against Globalisation

Forget the Asian Tigers -- the Global Vampires are upon us.

AID-EUROPE: Alleged Fraud Netted 550,000 Dollars From EU Aid Budget

Two months after an official was suspended following a European Union investigation into an alleged fraud involving EU aid funds four years ago, the bloc's executive Commission is finally able to give its side of the story.

POLITICS-SPAIN: ETA’s Unilateral Truce Sparks New Hopes for Peace

The unilateral truce declared by the outlawed Basque country separatist group ETA, to go into effect for an indefinite time at midnight Friday, has triggered optimism both within and outside that northern autonomous region of Spain.

RIGHTS-NETHERLANDS: Homosexual Imam Prays For Tolerance

Muammar Kaya is a homosexual Turk who has been forced to flee because of his desire to practise as an imam, or Muslim leader.

ENVIRONMENT-BULGARIA: Nuclear Waste Shipments Arouse Moldovan Ire

A Bulgarian shipment of spent nuclear fuel scheduled for dispatch to a Russian reprocessing plant has found its way barred by a political wrangle over the environmental risk to neighbouring Moldova, one of four countries on the rail route.

DEVELOPMENT-GERMANY: East Asian Crisis Looms Over German Election

The economic crisis that began last year in Asia -- and has now engulfed Latin America and Russia -- is beginning to cast its shadow on Germany as it inches towards a crucial country-wide general election on Sep 27.

POLITICS-BOSNIA: Ethnic Chauvinists Rattle Election Expectations

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the international body which supervised last weekend's general election here, has abandoned plans to publish preliminary results ahead of next week's official tally.

ENVIRONMENT-BULGARIA: Nuclear Waste Shipments Arouse Moldovan Ire

Just as Moldovan president Petru Lucinschi arrived in Sofia on Tuesday for his first official visit, off in the opposite direction went the first shipment of Bulgarian nuclear waste on its way to Russia, via Moldova's railway lines.

ARTS-ENTERTAINMENT – 7.

While some Russians are busy hoarding everything from food to toilet paper, ahead of expected shortages in the coming winter, many others aim keep their minds active as well as their stomachs full.

POPULATION-ITALY: Albanian Crisis Sows Concern

Italy's government fears the crisis in Albania will cause a renewed flood of refugees into the country, in a repeat of events only a year past.

BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA: The OSCE’s Firm Hand On Weekend Election Media

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has spent 22 million dollars trying to ensure this weekend's Bosnian elections are fairly held -- and as far as humanly possible, free from the works of biased journalists.

REFUGEES-GERMANY: Bosnians Caught In Germany’s Election Crossfire

Germany has come under attack for tightening its refugee policy ahead of Sep. 27 elections here, as Chancellor Helmut Kohl clamps down on Bosnians in response to rising xenophobia among his electorate.

HEALTH-BELARUS: Chernobyl Increased Thyroid Disease

Young people in Belarus exposed to radioactive iodine isotopes released during the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster are much more likely to develop thyroid disease than children who escaped heavy radiation exposure.

POLITICS-N.IRELAND: Clinton’s Qualified Contribution To Peace

U.S. President Bill Clinton's visit to Northern Ireland had been planned well before his own domestic problems came to the fore, and at a time when the current deadlock in the peace process here could not have been foreseen.

POLITICS-SPAIN: New Basque Alliance Sparks Hopes for Peace

A new light began to shine Thursday along the uphill road to peace in the Basque Country, a Spanish region shaken for three decades by bombings, kidnappings and street violence waged by separatist groups.