RIGHTS: Shelters Open for Battered Husbands

One in three women is ill-treated by someone or other in family homes, survey after survey shows. And so the total of three men living in shelter in a small home for battered husbands may seem unmentionably small in comparison.

G20: IMF Finds a New Unpopularity

When some Eastern European states faced economic collapse as the financial crisis took hold, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stepped in and offered governments huge loans.

CZECH REPUBLIC: Base Drops Out of Radar

The Czech Republic has entered election campaign period with dire warnings being sounded of falling into the Russian sphere of influence, just as the U.S. drops its plans to build a missile base in Eastern Europe.

EASTERN EUROPE: Disabled Seek to Move In From the Margins

At 37, Dimo Kokorkov, a carpenter from Stara Zagora in central Bulgaria is "broken-hearted". Dimo says this to describe his sense of deep injustice after being systematically abused in prison because of his disabilities.

RUSSIA: The Language of Influence Weakens

Nearly all of the former Soviet republics have adopted native languages that were suppressed during the communist era at the expense of Russian. This is affecting Russia's influence over the commonwealth of independent states.

SERBIA: Media Wakes Up to New Curbs

A controversial new law on media came into force in Serbia Tuesday, raising fears that freedom of expression will now be restricted by censorship or self- censorship.

BALKANS: Strike Wave Sweeps Serbia

A very hot summer of workers' discontent has taken over Serbia. Some 33,000 people go on strike daily in 40 to 45 firms, according to union statistics. They are mostly employees of privatised companies who have not been paid salaries or social and health security benefits for months now.

EUROPE: Divided We Stand United

The "poison" of populist politics in central and Eastern Europe is behind an escalating row between two new EU member states that could spill over into ethnic violence, political analysts warn.

EUROPE: Easterly Wind Picks Up

The natural conditions in Romania and Bulgaria make these countries some of the best placed in Europe for producing wind energy. Interest in investing in wind power is high in both countries, but legislative ambiguity and the limited capacity of national electricity grids are delaying the building of new wind parks.

EUROPE: Small Farmers Lost in Transition

"Our country would have gone through the economic crisis much smoother had we invested more in agriculture over the past 20 years, and had we not wasted so many resources on consumption," Romanian President Traian Basescu declared Aug. 7. That remark has drawn attention to serious questions whether countries like Romania are wasting their potential for agriculture.

BALKANS: Back to Arms, if not War

The arms industry in Serbia is seeing record growth amidst the economic slum that has hit other industries.

EUROPE: Financial Crisis Leads to Rapes

Several groups across Eastern Europe have called for a crackdown on mafia-run job agencies amid reports that their members are raping and torturing migrant workers who have lost their jobs in the economic crisis.

EUROPE: The Czar Makes Up With the Sultan

Once the worst of enemies, involved in 12 wars in three centuries, Turkey and Russia have suddenly become the best of friends, forging strong bonds that could be a counterpoint to the European Union if it freezes Turkey out of full membership.

BALKANS: Civil Society Plays Matchmaker

Ljubov Obradinovic only cried when her neighbours complimented her that she was hardworking. "Vredna", they said. Except that in Ukraininan that word means "wicked".

EUROPE: Roma Dead Less Remembered

A ceremony at Auschwitz Sunday to commemorate the half a million Sinti and Roma killed by the Nazis became a reminder of the threats these people continue to face across Europe.

MOLDOVA: Opposition Steps Ahead of Communists

After eight years of communist rule, four Moldovan opposition parties won a majority percentage of parliamentary seats during Wednesday's nationwide elections.

MIGRATION: Abandoned Between Two States

Isabelle Caillol, an activist with the Turkish branch of the human rights advocacy group Helsinki Citizens Assembly, sent a mass email to pro-migrant activists in Greece in May seeking help to find the family of Abbas Khavari, a 14-year-old Afghan refugee born in Iran.

CZECH REPUBLIC: Roma Exodus Provokes Diplomatic Conflict

Canada has imposed visas on Czechs following a year of thousands of visa applications from Roma who point to persecution in the Czech Republic. Czech officials and media put the blame on Canada.

BOSNIA: Get to be a Country First…

Sooner or later Bosnians will have to abandon their status of quasi-protectorate, and take control of their own state if they ever want to join the European Union.

BALKANS: Visas Eased, Except in Muslim Areas

Almost two decades after the break-up of former Yugoslavia, people from some of the new states that emerged have been granted visa-free travel to the European Union (EU) from the beginning of next year.

EDUCATION: Not This Romanian Way

One of three students in Romania studies at Spiru Haret University, the largest private university in the country. But more than 100,000 students, recent and older graduates, could be left without their diplomas because the authorities dispute the quality of education provided by the institution.