Dublin - Ireland's Europe Minister Dick Roche has been criticised by both yes and no campaigners for saying he believes a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty will be necessary, the Irish Independent reported Tuesday.

Roche told the newspaper on Monday that it is his "personal view at this stage" that Ireland will have to vote again on the EU reform treaty the country rejected in a referendum in June.

Prior to Roche's comments government ministers had said it was too early to say how Ireland would get around the ratification dilemma. Ireland was the only EU member to hold a public referendum on the treaty which has to be ratified by all 27 member states before it can come into effect.

Brussels - What do Kazakhstan, Israel and the north-eastern corner of South America have in common?

Some people count them as European.

Kazakhstan, despite being in Central Asia, is a member of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Israel is in both UEFA and the Eurovision Song Contest - competing in the latter rather more successfully in recent years than, say, France or Britain.

And the South American area of French Guyana is legally a province of France, which makes it officially a part of the European Union.

Hamburg - The mournful howling of wolves is echoing these days through the forested woodlands of eastern Germany for the first time in centuries, according to conservationists who say that wolves are spreading into Western Europe now that all their natural enemies have long since disappeared.

The cunning canine is even outsmarting its most dangerous mortal enemy - man. Wolves are encroaching on urbanized areas, even being spotted on the outskirts of large cities like Berlin.

US party conventions are not pure show By Peer Meinert, dpa Eds: Part of a series of stories moving prior to the Democratic convention that opens Monday; Republican convention begins September 1; epa photos available =

Washington (dpa) - The ritual at US political party conventions rarely varies. They end with a cascade of balloons and the smiling candidate on stage with family and the vice presidential pick.

Whether Democrats or Republicans, the four-day political spree is an endless celebration of the parties and their traditions - brought to viewers live by prime-time television.

Berlin - European factory orders dropped sharply in June, the European Statistics Office Eurostat said Friday, adding to signs of slowing economic growth.

Year-on-year, new industrial orders fell by 7.4 per cent in the 15-member eurozone in June. Analysts had forecast a 6.1-per-cent fall.

While industrial orders in 15-member eurozone dropped month on month by 0.3 per cent in June, factory orders in the broader 27- member European Union eased by 0.1 per cent compared to May. Year on year orders fell by 6.6 per cent in the EU.

However, the June monthly fall in eurozone factory orders was far less than the 1.1-per-cent decline which economists had been expecting.

Industrial and automotive battery maker Exide Industries Ltd. plans to spend Rs 300 crore on expansion of its production capacity, besides entering new overseas markets.

The company will invest Rs 300 crore this year, out of which Rs 150 crore would be invested in two of its plants in West Bengal, while the rest would be injected in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

The company will fund the entire investment through internal accruals.