For the last three months France has been taking part in a government-inspired debate over national identity. The government says it was a success; critics say it was just an excuse to whip up dislike of immigrantsListen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
European Parliament approves new European Commission after four month delayThe 27 member Commission is the European Union's executive, which manages the bloc's 130-billion-euro annual budget, drafts its laws and makes sure member states obey them.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Czech power producer under fire over its treatment of electricity piratesState-controlled CEZ, central Europe's largest listed company and the Czech Republic's main power producer, is being linked to a scandal in which a paramilitary style unit has been used to stop electricity thieves.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Austria weighs fines for skiers as avalanche death toll risesA cluster of 12 deaths in just a week has prompted calls for tough measures against skiers who start avalanches by going off the marked trails into virgin snow.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Russia looking for better ties with Ukraine after presidential run-offWith pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych poised to become the next president of Ukraine, Moscow will be hoping that Kiev will promote bilateral economic ties and edge away from membership of NATO.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
New generation set to take over leadership of Germany's Jewish communityThe President of Germany's Central Committee of Jews, 77-year-old Charlotte Knobloch, will not seek re-election in November, paving the way for a younger successor with no personal experience of the Holocaust.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Agreement reached for devolution of powers from London to BelfastNorthern Ireland's leaders have announced a hard-fought accord to transfer police and justice powers from London to Belfast in mid-April.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Ukraine votes for a new president in Sunday's run-offDnipropetrovsk is prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko's home town. Residents there say she promised much for the city, but has achieved little. But as she strives to beat Viktor Yanukovich, few doubt her tenacity.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Talks over Joachim Loew's contract stallNegotiations over Germany coach Joachim Loew's contract extension have been postponed until after the World Cup finals. The sticking point is money, but rumors of a behind-the-scenes power struggle won't go away.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Turkey hit by one-day strike in support of tobacco workershousands of Turkish public sector employees went on strike and many took to the streets on Thursday to show solidarity with tobacco industry workers, locked in a bitter row with the government over alternative jobs.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
France determined to clear poisonous beach algaeThe French government says it will try to fight toxic algae that is poisoning Brittany's coast. The seaweed emits dangerous gases as it rots, which have already killed a horse and a man hired to clean it up.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Bulgaria's police force unpopular as it still struggles with communist legacyThe Bulgarian police have the lowest levels of public trust out of all the European Union countries, according to the European Commission.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Anti-Semitism among Muslim youths worrying Germany's Jewish communityProjects that promote tolerance, such as showing migrant Turkish youths around Berlin's Jewish Museum (a place they might never normally visit), could be halted as local authorities cut costs.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
European officials unnerved by Obama's cancellationPresident Barack Obama's decision not to attend an EU-US summit in Spain in May has triggered hand-wringing among European officials over why he has apparently lost interest in Europe.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Berlusconi reaffirms strong support for IsraelItalian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has reiterated his country's firm support for Israel, urging "effective sanctions" against its arch-foe Iran and speaking out against a damning UN report on the Gaza war.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Court to determine guilt in Concorde crashA trial has started in Paris to determine whether Continental airlines or any of five individuals are to blame for the crash of a supersonic Concorde airplane in July 2000, in which 113 people were killed.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Head of German Jesuits apologizes for sex abuse by priestsThe head of the German Jesuit Order has apologized for the sexual abuse of children by two former priests at schools of the order in the 1970s and 80s.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Pope criticizes British equality legislationThe Pope has attacked the British government over new equality legislation because he is concerned the new laws could end the right of the Catholic Church to ban gay people from senior positions.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Turkey: Harsh sentence for throwing stonesIn Turkey, a Kurdish girl has received a stiff jail sentence for supporting the banned Kurdish rebel group PKK. The verdict comes at a time when the government says it wants to end the conflict with the Kurdish rebels.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Living in crammed flats harms French young peopleThe Abbé Pierre Foundation in France has published a report on the effect homelessness and slum housing is having on children. The report finds 600,000 people under the age of eighteen live in deplorable conditions.Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
