CZECH REPUBLIC: Corruption Returns to Haunt Government

Former deputy prime minister Jiri Cunek intends to return to his post in spite of public rejection of the alleged corruption scandals involving him.

CHALLENGES 2007-2008: Cracks Widen in East Europe

Ideological issues, corruption and populism pervade the political culture of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland at a time when both economic reform and an improvement in living standards are being promised to bridge the gap with the West.

ENERGY: German Biodiesel Forced to Compete

Until a few months ago, the production of crop-based fuels was the best energy business imaginable in Germany, thanks to growing demand supported by the government. That's no longer the case.

HEALTH: Nuclear Plants Raise Leukaemia Threat

It has been a miserable month for the Brosowskys, a German family in the small city of Marschacht.

CHALLENGES 2007-2008: Still Outsiders After a Year in EU

Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union (EU) Jan. 1 2007 under the toughest conditions ever imposed on new member states. Although the two countries barely met the criteria for membership, their strategic location, between the Western Balkans and the Black Sea, as well as their relatively trouble-free domestic politics, made them an asset for the stability of EU's eastern front.

BALKANS: EU Abandons Boundaries, Serbia Wants Them

As the European Union (EU) drops boundaries between its countries and its people, Serbia plans to introduce new ones against its disputed southern province, Kosovo.

SLOVAKIA: Governance Gets Ever Messier

The disputes within Slovakia's governing coalition have almost caused the government's collapse. Additional trouble can be expected, but the powerful Prime Minister's extraordinary popularity and the weakness of the opposition are holding the coalition together.

CHALLENGES 2007-2008: EU Rich in Events, Poor on Results

For the European Union, 2007 was a year rich in events, but poor on results. Next year promises to be as turbulent as this one, and probably as unremarkable in its outcome.

SPAIN: Tough Blow for Weakened ETA

A high court in Spain sentenced 14 leaders of political groups to prison Wednesday on the grounds that they also held positions of responsibility in the Basque separatist group ETA.

UKRAINE: The Orange Look Gets Another Chance

With the appointment of Yuliya Timoshenko as Prime Minister of Ukraine, the pro-Western 'Orange' forces have been granted a second opportunity to prove that their political programme is stronger than narrow power ambitions.

RUSSIA: The Meat of the Polish Dispute is Politics

When Russia agreed to lift its ban on import of Polish meat and dairy products, it was something of a diplomatic breakthrough.

SERBIA: Too Late, Billboards Show a Way

The Serbian government has began an unusual billboard campaign to mobilise its people under the slogan 'Kosovo is Serbia' ahead of crucial developments that might lead to independence of the southern, ethnic Albanian populated province.

UKRAINE: At Odds with Russia over “Genocide”

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has been spearheading the country's efforts to see the world recognise Ukraine's 1932-1933 famine as an "act of genocide against the Ukrainian people." Russia begs to disagree.

SERBIA: The Less You Can, The More You Pay

So what did you pay for it? Before they knew it, that question was no more the usual small talk among Serbs.

HEALTH: Europe &#39Forgetting&#39 AIDS

AIDS has become a "forgotten disease" in the European Union, according to the man in charge of the bloc's public health policies.

BULGARIA: Street Barricades Fail to Save Nature

When the Bulgarian Parliament adopted the final list of nature sites to be protected, it excluded precisely those areas that are most spectacular, and most interesting for tourism developers.

BALKANS: Who Remembers Yugoslavia?

The meeting of several hundred World War II veterans last weekend would not have meant much, had it not been convened in a town that symbolises so many things about a country that no longer exists, Yugoslavia.

KOSOVO: Ground Realities Make Talks Insignificant

The Troika mediating between Serbia and its breakaway southern province Kosovo has had to acknowledge that its 120-day mediation period has really led nowhere.

RUSSIA: Putin Triumphs as Party

Notwithstanding accusations of vote manipulation and intimidation of opposition groups, the Dec. 2 vote for the state Duma has changed the political scenario in Russia: the Kremlin-backed United Russia has parliamentary majority, both the Communist and Liberal parties have strengthened their positions, and the Social Democrats - A Just Russia - enter the Duma for the first time.

KYRGYZSTAN: Election Hurdles Leave Sparse Field

For the first time in the modern history of Kyrgyzstan, the parliament, called the Jogorku Kenesh, will be formed under a proportional system in which voters select a party rather than cast ballots for individual candidates.

RUSSIA: Putin Stronger After ‘Farcical’ Election

The Kremlin-backed United Russia party overwhelmingly won Sunday's parliamentary elections, paving the way for President Vladimir Putin to remain in control after his term expires next May.