BIODIVERSITY: Watching Over the Future

Her husband died last year, but "he will be forever a guardian of biodiversity."

FRANCE: Burqa Ban May Prove Counter-Productive

France is likely to have a law banning the burqa by autumn of this year, but human rights groups say that such legislation would be discriminatory, counter-productive and also difficult to enforce.

ROMANIA: Trade Unions Warn Against Unjustified Pay Cuts

Romania’s trade unions have warned that a series of protests against drastic cuts in pensions and salaries would turn into full-fledged general strikes by month-end unless the government heeded to the needs of ordinary people.

BIODIVERSITY: Not Just About Tigers and Pandas

When people talk about biodiversity loss, discussion often centres on the tragedy of animals like the tiger and the panda being in danger of extinction.

Eastern Europe Resists Disarmament

Despite the U.S. and Russia signing what was widely hailed as a landmark deal on nuclear arms reduction in Eastern Europe last month, the region remains hesitant to back full disarmament.

Conflict Stirs Over Hungarians

Calls have been made for Slovakia and Hungary to start "open and sincere" dialogue amid fears that Slovakia's ethnic Hungarian minority will "suffer" following the election of a new government in Hungary and as Slovakia's nationalist coalition government looks for re-election.

Q&A: Albanians Press Democracy With Hunger Strike

Since May 1 over 200 people have been on hunger strike in a tent in the centre of the Albanian capital of Tirana supported by rallies of 200,000 protestors and road blocks across the country to press for a recount of last year’s parliamentary vote.

ECONOMY-BALKANS: ‘How Did We Become So Poor?’

Almost two decades after Yugoslavia fell apart, the majority of the defunct socialist country’s people are insecure and uncertain for their future with the booming economy and rapid development that capitalism promised remaining a pipe dream.

Advantage GM in Europe

Leading biotechnology companies have been granted privileged access to the European Union's policy makers as part of their efforts to speed up the approval of new genetically modified (GM) crops.

BULGARIA: Blue Danube Meanders Into Road Building

The European Union Danube Strategy (DS), unfolding this year, is proving to be a litmus test for the viability of the concept of ‘green growth’ in Eastern Europe.

GREECE: Turks Bearing Gifts

The first visit in six years of a Turkish prime minister to Greece has been widely hailed as a historical rapprochement after a long period of mutual bitterness.

BIODIVERSITY: Developers Stalk the Carpathians

When the Slovakian government moved to open Tatra National Park to developers, last month, it did not consult experts or the public. Other protected sites across Central and Eastern Europe are said to be equally vulnerable.

Q&A: The Man Who Unearthed 200 Mass Graves in Spain

Francisco Etxeberria's work causes blisters and earns him animosity as well as admiration. He and his team of forensic experts, anthropologists, archaeologists and others have unearthed 200 mass graves, exhuming the remains of 4,800 people in Spain since 2000.

ICELAND: Int’l Arrest Warrant Against Top Bank Official

Vigorously pursuing those allegedly responsible for Iceland’s 2008 financial crisis, investigators have got issued an international arrest warrant against Sigurdur Einarsson, chairman of the board of governors of the failed Kaupthing Bank.

Pope’s Visit Finds Catholicism on the Decline in Portugal

Pope Benedict XVI began a four-day visit to Portugal Tuesday in an uncomfortable scenario for himself and his followers, amidst accusations that the Catholic Church leadership protected pedophile priests, and the free distribution of condoms by hundreds of protesters here.

Mediterranean Bailout – German Virtue or Necessity?

Under pressure from its European Union (EU) peers and confronted with the undeniable realities of the Greek financial collapse, the German government has finally given up its resistance to a multinational bailout programme for the Mediterranean EU member states.

Portugal Looking More Like Greece

Portugal is caught in the crossfire between credit rating agencies and international financial speculators who see this country as offering an excellent opportunity to turn a quick profit.

RIGHTS-FINLAND: Tough Asylum Policy Opposed by Civil Disobedience

Juha Suoranta had until recently been a professor of sociology, pursuing a quiet academic career in the University of Tampere, unconcerned with issues surrounding asylum for foreigners in trouble.

ECONOMY-GREECE: Convulsions Follow EU Shock Therapy

The firebombing of a bank by demonstrators protesting against severe austerity measures, which killed two women and a man, appears to Greeks as a sign of social deterioration arising from their country’s financial crisis.

Q&A: ‘Corporate Lobbying Affects EC Credibility’

The intimate relationship between Europe's top policy-makers and major corporations has been underscored once more in recent days. Barely six months after they ceased being members of the European Commission, Germany's Günter Verheugen and Ireland's Charlie McCreevy have been handed lucrative posts with the Royal Bank of Scotland and the no-frills airline Ryanair.

Like Unemployed Mum and Dad

A generation of children growing up in Eastern Europe face poverty when they reach working age because of the effect their own parents' long-term unemployment will have on them, sociologists and economists have warned.