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A loner and a hunter with highly developed territorial instincts, a cruel carnivore, a disobedient individual: the cat. These features make the species averse to domestication. Even so, we did it. Nowadays, about 500 million cats live in households all around the world; it is also difficult to estimate the amount of the homeless and the feral ones. Although the common history of cats and people began 10,000 years ago, the origins of the relation still remain unknown... Scientists from the Institute of Archaeology at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun have outstanding merits in this field. An article discussing...

Ancient DNA recovered from a series of skeletons in central Germany up to 7500 years old has been used to reconstruct the first detailed genetic history of modern Europe. The study, published today in Nature Communications, reveals a dramatic series of events including major migrations from both Western Europe and Eurasia, and signs of an unexplained genetic turnover about 4000-5000 years ago. The research was performed at the University of Adelaide's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD). Researchers used DNA extracted from bone and teeth samples from prehistoric human skeletons to sequence a group of maternal genetic lineages that are...

"None of the dynamic changes we observed could have been inferred from modern-day genetic data alone, highlighting the potential power of combining ancient DNA studies with archaeology to reconstruct human evolutionary history."

Central Europe is sharply divided on the crisis in Ukraine, while the EU is anxious to maintain unity. Several of the countries reject the very notion of Russia as a security threat. Rob Cameron reports from Prague. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrives in the Slovak capital Bratislava on Monday for talks with Central European colleagues expected to be dominated by the crisis in Ukraine. Analysts say maintaining unity in the face of Russian aggression is one of the key challenges facing the European Union; but there are sharp divisions in Central Europe over how to face this challenge. Indeed...

In genetics, it’s not just the living who advance the field: DNA preserved in the brittle bones of our ancestors can provide significant insight into our genetic history. Such is the case with a new genetic history of Europe, traced by an international team of researchers and published today in Science. By creating a seamless genetic map from 7,500 to 3,500 years ago in one geographic region, scientists discovered that the genetic diversity of modern day Europe can’t be explained by a single migration, as previously thought, but by multiple migrations coming from a range of areas in modern day...

The American decision to back out of a Bush-administration agreement has Europe worried that Barack Obama may sacrifice Central Europe to repair relations with Russia. The Los Angeles Times has reported that the Polish Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, said last week his country would now have to look inward rather to the US for security. Barack Obama in overturning the Bush-era plan for the missile shield in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe caused memories of the Cold War to come flooding back in Poland, which was once the casualty of Russian domination. In Poland and among other members...

WARSAW -- After the new Starbucks opened, I walked by the place a couple of times, just to see the crowds. Strategically located midway between the university and the stock exchange, the world's best-known coffee franchise immediately attracted a well-heeled clientele. Lines twisted around inside the shop and out the door. Up and down the street, blue-jeaned students and dark-suited stockbrokers carried their white paper cups with pride, the famous green label facing outward. Yes, Starbucks has come to Warsaw at last. The brand might be out of fashion in the States; the company might be losing money. Its shares...

Central Europe Socialists reject U.S. missile shield By Jan Korselt PRAGUE (Reuters) - Central European Social Democrat parties rejected on Thursday a U.S. plan to build part of its missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, saying it threatened to bring about a new arms race. Top Socialists from Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia said after talks in Prague that any such system must not be built unilaterally or bilaterally. "We are concerned about the decision to deploy the system and are at one with the large majority of our populations in rejecting it,"...

Switzerland has opened the world's longest rail tunnel on land - the 34-kilometre (21-mile) Loetschberg tunnel under the Alps. It will cut the journey time between Germany and Italy by at least a third.

Sorry for the vanity, but the entrances to the Vienna International Centre (the United Nations offices in Vienna) are temporarily blocked by the police. Apparently there is some sort of bomb threat and they're investigating. Here's a webcam link of the area, which shows the traffic pretty much at a standstill around the complex.

Central Europe marks 50th anniversary of Hungarian revolution 20.10.2006 - Agi Varga, Kerry Skyring This coming week will see ceremonies in Budapest and other capitals of Central Europe marking the 50th anniversary of Hungary's 1956 uprising against the Soviet Union. An uprising, which was quickly and brutally crushed but which was one of the defining moments of the Cold War and, of course, recent Hungarian history. Ninety-five year old Bela Kiraly was the commander-in-chief of the National Guard in Budapest in 1956. After the revolution's bloody end, he lived in exile in the United States returning only to his homeland...

Polish admirers of Ronald Reagan say they will erect a statue of the late US president in Warsaw to thank him for helping to end communist rule. They say the 3.5-metre (10.5ft) stone and bronze statue will stand opposite the US embassy in the Polish capital. "The statue is a way for his legacy to live on," said Janusz Dorosiewicz, a businessman behind the private project. In 1989, Poland became the first nation in Eastern Europe to defeat communism. Reagan died in 2004 at the age of 93. "This is an entirely private initiative undertaken by Poles in Poland,...

Forum: Postcommunist Central Europe at 17 July 2, 2006 While terrorism and Iraq compete for Page One news, the transformation of postcommunist Central Europe into America's ally is proceeding apace. Poland, the largest of the eight postcommunist countries admitted to the European Union in 2004, supplied 2,500 troops for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq (now reduced to 900), and sent 124 soldiers to Afghanistan. In 1989-91, Central Europe got rid of the Soviet military presence. Poland was the leader in holding semi-free elections in June 1989, Hungary and Czechoslovakia followed. The Berlin Wall fell in November. A June 2006 visit...

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's Socialist-led coalition won a general election on Sunday with an increased majority in parliament to become the country's first government to retain power since communism fell in 1989. With 98 percent of the vote counted in the second round of polling, the election commission projected the Socialist Party and its Free Democrat allies would increase their majority from 198 to 210 seats in the 386-member parliament. It was a personal triumph for 44-year-old Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, who rescued the Socialists from what looked certain defeat when he became premier in 2004, and provides him with...

Central Europe's peculiar Easter tradition 14.4.2006 - Katarina Richterova In much of Central Europe there's an Easter Monday tradition which can surprise and shock outsiders. Men go from house to house symbolically beating women with a whip made from a few twigs of willow. In some countries, they also pour water or perfume on them. It's supposed to bring women good health throughout the year and women are expected to thank the men with an Easter egg, some food, drink, or a coin. Sounds strange? Katarina Richterova has more on this common custom in Central Europe's Catholic countries: It probably...

The Visegrad Group - Polish Geopolitical Axis Simon Araloff, AIA European section Fifteen years ago the "Visegrad Group" (or V4) association was perceived by its founders to be a completely natural necessity for that period. It was a natural reaction to the political and economic vacuum formed in the central part of Europe after the collapse of the Council of Economic Mutual Assistance and the Warsaw Treaty Organization. Also it was a completely necessary tool for a dialogue with NATO and the EU. The Soviet giant collapsed on the east, Germany was uniting in the West. And Berlin with Moscow...

Geopolitical Diary: Poland's Kaczynski Visits Washington February 09, 2006 08 00 GMT Polish President Lech Kaczynski traveled to Washington on Wednesday, where he met briefly with President George W. Bush late in the day and was expected to meet separately with other key advisers. Kaczynski's first official visit to the White House was brief and drew little media attention, but from Warsaw's perspective it comes at a key moment for the region. Poland's historical alliance with the United States remains strong, but the changing dynamics in Central and Eastern Europe have generated worries in Warsaw and prompted the recently elected...

Poland is the cheapest country in the region after Ukraine according to research From Poland A.M. According to research carried out by financial group ING, Poland is the cheapest country, after Ukraine, in our region. The research was conducted by examining the prices of a basket of goods in different cities across the whole world. In the third quarter of last year, prices in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were more or less equal. " Now, the situation has changed. The zloty has remained in the background in terms of appreciation in relation to other currencies in the...

Poland to become the stronghold of US-led policies in Europe 09.02.2006 Source: Has the USA simply found a supporter in Europe or has Poland lost its notorious pride? This week Polish President Lech Kaczynski makes his first official visit to the United States as a head of state. He gave an interview to journalists last Friday and from this it is possible to deduce that Poland aspires to the role of being America’s main ally in Europe. Furthermore, Lech Kaczynski has given his transatlantic ally a "present" by promising that he wouldl leave a contingent of Polish troops in Iraq...

EU states urged to open up to eastern labour The European Commission will urge 12 European states on Wednesday to finally open their borders to workers from the bloc's ex-communist newcomer states as a way of boosting their economies. . In the first of three reports on the transitional phase since the European Union's "big bang" enlargement of May 2004, the EU's executive arm says that fears of an invasion by cheap "Polish plumbers" were unfounded. . "In spite of fears expressed on the occasion of the successive enlargements, free movement of workers has not led to disruption of national...