Europe

By BosNewsLife News Center WASHINGTON/TOKYO/BUDAPEST-- Officials on Monday, March 23, began investigating plane crashes in three countries which killed 16 people, most of them in United States, where aviation experts wanted to know why a single-engine plane plunged into a cemetery in the northwestern state of Montana.

By BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest SOFIA/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Bulgaria's government is planning to appeal a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which found Bulgaria guilty of violating religious rights of over 100 Bulgarian Orthodox priests, bishops and lay-workers, who were violently thrown out of their churches, BosNewsLife learned Monday, March 23.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife SKOPJE/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Macedonia held presidential and local elections Sunday, March 22, seen as vital to the country's plans to join the European Union and NATO.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- Hungary's Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurscany said Saturday, March 21, he is resigning because of his government's plunging popularity as it struggles to overcome Hungary's worst economic crisis in recent memory.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife VIENNA/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- An Austrian man who imprisoned his daughter for 24 years and fathered seven children with her was sentenced on Thursday, March 19, to life in prison, which he will serve mainly in a psychiatric facility. It came shortly after Josef Fritzl pleaded guilty to all charges, including murder and enslavement.

Eric Leijenaar, BosNewsLife Senior Special Correspondent SEOUL/AMSTERDAM (BosNewsLife)-- Thousands of North Korean Christians have received food and Christian education from a major Western organization, despite fresh attempts by North Korea's leadership to crackdown on foreign aid, BosNewsLife established Wednesday, March 18.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife VIENNA/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- An Austrian man who fathered seven children with a daughter he held captive in a cellar for more than two decades has pleaded guilty to rape and incest, but denies murdering a newborn son. Josef Fritzl spoke Monday, March 16, at the start of what has been dubbed Austria's trial of the century.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife with reporting from Germany STUTTGART, GERMANY (BosNewsLife)-- A 17-year-old boy opened fire at his former former high school in southwestern Germany and elsewhere Wednesday, March 11, killing at least 16 people, before he was shot dead by security forces, police said.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife Bos report Listen (MP3) Bos report Download (MP3) THE HAGUE/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- International judges and prosecutors were preparing Thursday, March 5, for a complicated trial after former Bosnian-Serb leader Radovan Karadzic refused to enter a plea to an amended indictment of genocide and crimes against humanity.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife reporting from Budapest BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- European Union leaders have ruled out a multi-billion dollar rescue plan for Eastern Europe in the face of the global economic crisis, despite warnings from Hungary that the rejection could lead to an economic "iron curtain" across the continent.