Ukraine/Netherlands: Dispute over Ancient Gold - After the political and military upheaval over Crimea, the peninsula's cultural heritage is also at stake. The first bone of contention is an exhibition in the Netherlands. It's called the Golden Peninsula in the Black Sea. Viewed historically, Crimea is a fascinating place. For millennia, it was home to nomadic tribes such as the Scythians. They left behind valuable gold artifacts, which are currently on show in a large exhibition in Amsterdam. The gold treasure actually belongs to four Crimean museums, but since the peninsula's annexation by Russia, the question has arisen: to whom should the gold artifacts be returned - Ukraine or Crimea - or should they remain in Amsterdam? Slovakia: Overcrowded Schools - In eastern Slovakia, the number of school pupils is rising so dramatically that classes are being taught in two shifts. Most of the pupils belong to the country's Roma minority. It's financial need that is driving many Roma families in Slovakia to send their children to school regularly. At the beginning of March, the government drastically cut its welfare and family benefit payments. The measures have hit Roma families with many children especially hard. Scarcely any of them have secure paid jobs, and many of them depend on allowances for school children. But the government pays that only to socially disadvantaged families whose children actually attend school. Spain: Protests against Abortion Law - Spain's governing party is tightening restrictions on women's rights to abortion. The new law is fiercely disputed, because it virtually amounts to an abortion ban. For many women, Spain's current abortion law was an important step on the road to emancipation. Until now, women could decide freely whether or not to have an abortion during the first fourteen weeks of pregnancy. That's the case in most European countries. But in future, abortions would be allowed only in cases of rape or severe fetal abnormality. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative Partido Popular, or Popular Party, says that in scaling back the right to abortion, it's fulfilling one of its election promises. Italy: Venetian Separatists - They're demanding the independence of the Veneto region from the rest of Italy, and increasingly using violence: the radical separatists from the group known as "The Alliance." The Veneto is one of Italy's wealthiest regions. But since the economic crisis, many people there are angry that their money is being spent to help the poorer south of the country. That's grist to the mill for the separatists, who are becoming increasingly radical. Recently the Italian police broke up a group which had acquired weapons from the Albanian mafia and planned to declare Venetian independence on St. Mark's Square.
