Europe

NHS Community Health Councils - which helped lead to the conviction of the serial killer Harold Shipman and rogue gynaecologist Rodney Ledward - are to be axed.

Leeds schoolboy, Alexander Rostron, has arrived back in the UK after being deported from Beijing for protesting against alleged human rights abuses against Falun Gong practitioners.

Activists representing the spiritual group, Falun Gong, which is outlawed in China, were detained on arrival in Iceland during a recent visit by the Chinese premier, Jiang Zemin.

Embattled leader, Stipe Mesic, talks to Dominic Hipkins in Zagreb about his country's struggle to regain respectability.

More than 70 million people in China are followers of Falun Gong. But their beliefs can come at a very high price.

A prominent supporter of Ante Gotovina has revealed the Croatian general indicted for war crimes will try to embarrass the US if he is extradited to The Hague for trial.

Little about the journey from the Bosnian border post of Dobrljin to the capital is predictable aboard the Sarajevo Express from Croatia.

A room is filled with gypsies: young men as well as tired mothers holding wailing children. A heavily built Croatian policeman stands proudly, guarding the door as if it is his national duty to secure the containment of the Roma.

About 500 Kurds gathered outside the Greek embassy in Holland Park, West London to protest against the arrest of their leader, Abdullah Ocalan.

"Sitting next to the fireplace with an attitude of confident and innocent expectation, the Colonel experienced the feeling that fungus and poisoned lilies were taking root in his gut. It was October. A difficult morning to get through, even for a man like himself…"