There are plans to build hundreds of new and often magnificent mosques throughout Europe. But the mosque dispute in Cologne shows how architecture has become the field of a fierce ideological battle about the visibility of Europe's 16 million Muslims. This holds true for Italy, Norway, Switzerland and even Britain, but it's especially true for Germany.

“Montenegro has taken many positive steps to upgrade its legislation, but implementation remains weak," the Council of Europe’s Thomas Hammarberg concludes in a new report. He highlights corruption and the flawed prosecution of war crimes and police ill-treatment. He underlines the need for judicial reform, improved protection of minorities, refugees, women and persons with disabilities, and respect of media freedom.

Jörg Haider was the scourge of Austria. But his death does little to stop the renewed momentum for the extreme right in the country. And the story of its resurgence offers sobering lessons for European democrats who believed that the far right could be defeated through cooptation, or would forever be dependent on rare charismatic leaders.

Alain Weill is a no-frills tycoon and a risk-taking innovator who is shaking up France’s media industry. But he is also seen as a ruthless cost-cutter who broke with a tradition of social partnership, and is accused of cheapening the profession with commoditised (read American) news journalism. He hopes that digital television will benefit from the scrapping of advertising on public television next year.

There is no quick fix to the problems of France's suburban ghettos, but minister Amara says the government is finally on the right track. Faced with criticism for the lack of funding for her policies, she says every ministry now directs part of its funds at policies in the ghettos, totalling 4.3 billion euros in the proposed 2009 budget. She plans to build new transport links, improve schools and help unemployed youth find jobs.

The assembly of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity of Republika Srpska is threatening "to use all legal and political measures," including a possible referendum on independence, "to defend its legitimate interests". The threat comes in an angry response to how the Bosniak member of the tripartite presidency, Haris Silajdzic, gave speeches to the UN and the Council of Europe condemning Republika Srpska for genocide during the war.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has been forced to revise his inquiry into racism in the Metropolitan Police before it even started. He proposed the inquiry after black officers criticised the "racist environment" in the force and called on ethnic minority recruits to boycott the Met. But the Metropolitan Police Authority told him the investigation would be an expensive, unnecessary duplication.

Multiculturalism in the UK has left a "terrible" legacy, shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve warns. He says "long-term inhabitants" have been left fearful, while immigrants have felt alienated and unsure what British values stand for. He calls the BNP and Hizb ut-Tahrir "very similar phenomena of people who are experiencing a form of cultural despair about themselves, their identity."

The Macedonian Law on Free Access to Public Information is being implemented despite its shortcomings. But officials of the Justice Ministry, members of the Commission for Protection of Free Access to Information and NGOs will work on improving and supplementing it. This was concluded at a press conference of the OSCE mission to Skopje and the Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia.

The population of the EU is avoiding decline mainly thanks to immigration from other parts of the world, according to fresh figures from Eurostat. The EU's total population was up 0.48% last year, reaching 497.5 million inhabitants. But some 80% of this growth comes from immigration, as fertility rates amongst native-born Europeans are steadily declining.