By Nikolaj Nielsen, 25/11/09, (Pambazuka News): Commenting on events at a Brussels conference for the promotion of peace and human rights in Eritrea, Nikolaj Nielsen reports on a country which Reporters Without Borders ranks lower on press freedom than North Korea. 'Eritrea', Nielsen writes, 'was the promise that never evolved' and a country 'unable to come to terms with lasting peace'.

By Andrew Gardner, 03/11/09, (The European Voice): With the ruling of the Czech constitutional court on Tuesday morning 3 November stating that the Lisbon Treaty is compatible with the Czech Constitution, the last barrier to a full ratification of the Treaty fell away.  Consequently, the Czech President, Václav Klaus, signed the document on 3 November in the afternoon, thereby completing the process of ratification 23 months after the EU's reform treaty was signed by the EU Heads of government.

By Andrew Rettman, Brussels, 23-10-2009, (EUobserver): The EU's new foreign minister will have sweeping powers to conduct foreign policy, propose his own budget and name his own staff independently of other EU institutions, according to the latest EU presidency blueprint.