EUROPE: Tempting the Irish to Say Yes

Ireland's rejection of the European Union's Lisbon treaty has led Brussels officials to plan a major publicity campaign aimed at convincing voters that they should respond favourably to the bloc's economic, social and foreign policies.

EUROPE: Funnily, Bulgaria Is Not a Turkish Toilet

A work of art exhibited this week in Brussels has turned out to be an unusual test for whether some Europeans are able to laugh at themselves. Just as the artist intended.

RUSSIA: Migrant Workers Forced to Head Home

The worsening recession is hitting foreign workers from the ex-Soviet republics far harder than it is affecting Russians.

BALKANS: In a New Search for Alternative Energy

The gas crisis has unleashed new interest in turning to alternative energy sources in the Balkans.

TURKEY: ‘Plots’ Not Very European

In widespread sweeps, dozens of prominent personalities have been detained in Turkey - among them retired generals, active officers, academics and journalists - on suspicion of attempting to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government.

EASTERN EUROPE: Go with Putin, or Go Nuclear

The gas crisis has placed environmental concerns on the backburner, and raised demands for nuclear production at plants once considered unsafe.

EUROPE: Caught in Freezing Crossfire

Central Europe and the Balkans face a halting of industrial production, closed schools, frozen water supply pipes and eventual economic paralysis as suspension of gas deliveries stops life in the region.

EUROPE: Political Chill May Outlast the Big Freeze

As Russia suffers from the financial crisis and Ukraine heads towards bankruptcy, nobody can tell who is to blame for a spat that threatens to freeze Central Europe and the Balkans.

EASTERN EUROPE: Good Old Ways Protecting the Economy

Fears about the impact of the global financial crisis in Eastern Europe may be overblown. While economic growth is likely to slow down in 2009, it is improbable that countries like Romania and Bulgaria will be hit as hard as Britain or the U.S.

DEVELOPMENT: Africa May Face ‘Centuries’ of Poverty

Extreme poverty will continue to blight sub-Saharan Africa for another 200 years unless action to overcome it is intensified, a new report has suggested.

MIDEAST: Claiming Impartiality, Europe Leans Towards Israel

In carefully crafted official statements, diplomats have portrayed the European Union as something of an honest broker in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet even though almost all of the people killed over the past fortnight have been Palestinians, some top-ranking leaders in the 27-country bloc have tacitly offered their support for Israel's bombing and invasion of Gaza.

RUSSIA: Gas Dispute Raises Political Heat

Disputes over gas supply from Russia to Europe have again taken on a political dimension.

EUROPE: Czech Presidency Promises Controversy

The rotating EU presidency has been taken over for the first half of the year by a country with a president who may refuse to sign the EU Treaty, and with a weak government that has more faith in the U.S. than in Europe.

ROMANIA: Grand Coalitions, Little Hope

The new year will bring 'grand coalitions' in government in both Romania and Bulgaria. In spite of politicians' claims that a new union between left and right in both countries aims "to safeguard the best interests of the people" in times of crisis, the new coalitions are more likely another sign that decision-makers pursue self-interest above all.

ECONOMY-BALKANS: The Old Ways May Be Recession-Proof

Two things Serbs never forget to pack when visiting friends and relatives abroad are the kore and the cream. The kore is the traditional hand-made pastry; and the Pavlovic face and body cream has long held its own against more upmarket brands.

EUROPE: Roma Pay the Price for Far-Right Rise

The alarm bell is ringing in Central Europe: as the region braces itself for an economic crisis, extremism grows and gains popular sympathy by targeting the Roma.

BULGARIA: Students Demand an Environment for Education

The killing of a student in front of a nightclub in Studentski Grad (Student City) in Sofia has brought to the fore the chaotic and insecure living conditions of tens of thousands of students housed in the quarters.

BALKANS: EU Now Appears Further Away

EU membership remains the declared goal of many of the countries carved out of former Yugoslavia, but recent developments have made that goal more distant than before.

EUROPE: Time for Christmas, and to Fight over Fish

European Union governments have a strange way of preparing for Christmas: they squabble about fish.

Q&A: ‘We Were Very Good Students of Neo-liberal Ideology’

A region that has enthusiastically embraced free market economics since the collapse of state socialism is facing new socio-economic and political challenges.

GREECE: Riots Fed by Years of Anger

It is late at night. The city is quiet and strangely empty. Only some spooky figures appear here and there, police in civilian clothes, photojournalists looking for telling pictures.