HUNGARY: ‘Former Reds’ Behind Red Mud

As the Hungarian government continues its efforts to limit the consequences of a tragic toxic leak last week, it has also used the opportunity to attack a supposed former communist-turned capitalist oligarchy that allegedly runs the country's economy.

EUROPE: Poor Safeguards Against Further Spills

The red sludge spill at the Ajka alumina plant in Hungary has been called one of the three worst environmental disasters in Europe in the last 20-30 years. But environmentalists warn other waste depositing sites in Central and Eastern Europe are prone to similar accidents.

HUNGARY: Mud Leaves More Than a Mark

"There's no way we can stay. It smells like cholera," says pensioner Imre Fabian as he shovels the red toxic mud from his kitchen floor. The flood of toxic waste that hit people in Devecser is there to stay, and locals are beginning to accept that their life as they knew it is over.

EUROPE: Yugoslavia Back on Track

For a while it looked like the start of a ride in a time machine. Serbian engineers, their caps bearing the emblems of the defunct Yugoslav Railways, cheered on the first train of the new Slovenian-Croatian-Serbian railway.

EUROPE: Bosnia Progresses to a New Mess

Elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina last Sunday have passed without changing much. Bosnian voters had a difficult political scene to tackle.

BALKANS: Kosovo Talks Bring Hope

Serbia has lost all its military and legal battles over Kosovo, but there is hope that the internationally sponsored talks between Belgrade and Pristina in October may bring some normalisation in relations between Serbia and its breakaway province.

ROMANIA: Austerity Deals Mortal Blow to Health System

Five newborns died last week in a fire caused by an airconditioning fault at a Bucharest maternity. Insufficient, overworked staff and deficient maintenance -- results of inadequate funding of the health system - -were listed among the causes.

BALKANS: Serbia Prepares a New Case Over Kosovo

Serbia is preparing to go before the United Nations next month to renew negotiations over the future of Kosovo, its southern breakaway province that has declared independence and been recognised by a number of countries.

BALKANS: The Turks Return

It's not often that the leading Belgrade daily Politika devotes two of its four foreign pages to the praise of one nation, but it did so for the visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month.

EUROPE: Citizen Rights Don’t Apply to Roma

All major European countries plan mass expulsions of Roma or demolitions of Roma settlements. Rights groups warn that these measures entail the criminalisation of an entire ethnic group, and break EU law.

UKRAINE: Punished for Fighting AIDS

Drug users and doctors legally prescribing substitution drugs to addicts -- a key tool in the battle with the country's growing HIV epidemic -- are facing illegal police intimidation and imprisonment, HIV/AIDS activists in the Ukraine say. Fears are rising that the country's approach to the disease could be changing for the worse.

HUNGARY: Austerity Fatigue sends IMF Home

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has slapped IMF in the face, shocking an international community used to news of economic difficulties coming from this small Central European nation. But most Hungarians have welcomed it, at least so far.

GREECE: Society Begins to Crack Under Harsh Measures

Every working day, more than a hundred people crowd around the entrance of the merchant and passenger boats' reconstruction industry, well known as 'The Zone', in the southern suburb of Attiki.

BULGARIA: Refuge Can Get Worse Than Rejection

A protest to close down Busmantsi, a detention centre for undocumented migrants in Sofia, highlighted the obstacles faced by refugees and asylum- seekers in Bulgaria.

BALKANS: Yugoslavia Tribunal Faces Uncertain Legacy

On the eve of World Day for International Justice, launched to recognise the emerging body of international criminal law, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) faces an uncertain legacy. Initially slated to finish its work in 2008, the ICTY is two years behind schedule and at least four years from the final thump of its gavel.

ROMANIA: Digging Gold With a Cyanide Lining

Canadian company Gabriel Resources has managed to resurrect a cyanide-based gold exploitation project which had been declared illegal in courts, and is opposed by most Romanians.

BALKANS: Economic Crisis Takes Harsh Toll

It's been quite a while since Mevliha Cebo enjoyed the job she was educated for: a pre-school teacher in her native Sarajevo.

CZECH REPUBLIC: Women Resist All-Male Cabinet

Women’s rights campaigners say the Czech Republic’s new government has effectively told women they have no relevance to the country’s future after the new cabinet was formed – without a single female minister.

KGB Back in Fashion in Ukraine

Regular police torture of suspects, a crackdown on press freedom and the right to assembly, and a return to KGB methods of intimidation and forced collaboration are part of "alarming" breaches of human rights in the Ukraine, international and domestic rights groups have warned.

Swiss Knives Out for Migrants

The disputed 'black sheep' placards may soon return to Swiss streets. The country's Federal Council and parliament have validated a right-wing initiative calling for the automatic deportation of criminal foreigners.

‘This Is Worse Than Guantanamo’

A former Guantanamo Bay prisoner at a refugee detention centre in Slovakia has said he is prepared to die in hunger strike after living five months in conditions he says are worse than in the infamous U.S. prison.