Europe's year in pictures

News Online looks back on the big events - and images - of the past 12 months in Europe.

January

Prague saw the biggest demonstrations since 1989 as people took to the streets over a dispute at the public TV station

February

Smouldering tensions between ethnic Albanians and Macedonians flared into conflict - a deal in August brought uneasy peace

March

Foot-and-mouth disease spread from the UK to France and the Netherlands - but a wider European epidemic was averted

April

The resumption of nuclear waste transports in Germany for the first time in three years brought protesters onto the tracks

May

Silvio Berlusconi took power in Italy - but there were concerns about his business interests and coalition partners

June

In a controversial move Slobodan Milosevic was transferred to the Hague tribunal to face war crimes charges

July

In a year of protests, the G8 Genoa summit saw the fiercist clashes between anti-capitalists and police, claiming one life

August

Floods swept southern Poland leaving at least 30 people dead and devastating many villagers

September

Switzerland was in shock as it mourned the 14 people killed when a gunman stormed the regional parliament in Zug

October

The climax of a long and costly operation, the Russian nuclear submarine, the Kursk, was finally raised from the sea bed

November

For the first time since the Paris crash Concorde flew passengers trans-Atlantic, giving a boost to Europe's troubled airlines

December

Millions of old notes were shredded as the 12 eurozone countries made their final preparations to bring in the single currency