Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko has been named as the new United Nations High Representative to Bosnia. Inzko was the European Union's candidate for the job, but his appointment was delayed after the United States lobbied for someone who would take a harder line with Serbia. The appointment comes amidst rising tensions between the Muslim-Croat federation and the Bosnian Serb Republic, which have caused the UN to extend its mandate over Bosnia-Herzegovina. Meanwhile Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik has been accused of embezzling over 70 million Euros of public funds, a charge that Dodik claims is politically motivated.

The inhabitants of the Susa valley in the Italian province of Turin have been protesting the planned TGV high-speed rail link between the French city of Lyons and the city of Turin for several years. The Italian protestors say the valley is already bisected by a highway and a regular railway line. Now over 1,300 activists have purchased a plot of land over 1,500 square meters in area, located directly on the site planned for the TGV railway tunnel. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has threatened to end the protests, if necessary by force. The Lyons-Turin route is part of a large railway and highway network that is planned to extend from the Ukrainian city of Kiev all the way to Lisbon, Portugal. The European Union has committed 8 billion Euros to the project.

Wilhelm Brasse is 91 years old and one of the last living survivors of the Auschwitz death camp. As a concentration camp prisoner, Brasse was forced by the SS to take photographs of the Auschwitz camp. Brasse took almost 50,000 photographs, including many "identity pictures" of newly-arrived inmates, as well as photographs for the infamous concentration camp physician Josef Mengele. After the end of the Second World War, Wilhelm Brasse's forced labor for the SS continued to haunt him and he has never resumed work as a photographer. Several years ago, Brasse began speaking to young Germans about his experiences at Auschwitz.

The Bolat family moved to Istanbul from a village in Anatolia twelve years ago, but three months ago Mr Bolat lost his job in a textile factory. The Bolats don't think the global financial crisis will end any time soon, so the family of five has decided to move back to the countryside in the vague hope that things will be better there. Istanbul's municipal administration is encouraging people to leave the city and is paying for the move.

Sweden's elk are prized hunting trophies. In past years, more elk have been culled than the authorities have allowed. Scientists studying the animals have launched a large-scale campaign to assess their numbers and encourage new hunting regulations. That would also increase the chances of survival for older bulls with large antlers, which are the favorite quarry of hunters.