It has been a bad year for most countries in the former Soviet block.
Kunskapsskolan Enskede, a school for 11- to 16-year-olds in a suburb of Stockholm, is a former office block into which classrooms, open-study spaces and two small lecture-theatres have been squeezed (pictured).
Communist countries and one-party states also tend to perform better than economics and population alone would suggest which may be good news for the Chinese this time, though not for the former Soviet block.
EU's enlargement to include ten new member countries, which took place last May, was sold as a golden opportunity to expand a European zone of peace, prosperity and co-operation into the former Soviet block.
In western Europe, prostitutes from the former Soviet block are forced to work without any choice of which or how many clients they sleep with, and with the threat or use of force curtailing their freedom.
Could we imagine what would have happened if the EU had not integrated the former European eastern block ?
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Another source might be Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet-block countries, which have plenty of helicopters, but have so far offered few of them.
"The bottom line is this: Food companies are ready and consumers will be able to buy fruit and grocery products over the New Year's holiday and beyond, " said John Block, former secretary of agriculture and current chief of the Food Distributors International.
Other images show "The Castle, " a former five-story office block in central London that is now a home for more than 100 squatters -- and a site for raves.
He is one of several parties interested in a block of shares former Rangers chairman Chris Wright agreed to free up when the club came out of administration last year.
And Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, indicated that MEPs could seek to block the deal while former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt said the cuts were "unthinkable" while much of Europe was in recession.
Famfa Oil owned a 60% stake in the block until 2000 when the Nigerian government, led by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, unconstitutionally acquired a 50% interest in the block without duly compensating Alakija or her company.
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Aberdeen rallied and former Scotland keeper Goram made a superb block from Eoin Jess after Winters had carved out the opening.
Mr Giuliani, who would probably back Messrs Vallone or Hevesi over his former friend, might be able to block that route.
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The SDLP is to try to block a bill that prevents former prisoners guilty of serious offences from holding posts as Stormont special advisers (SPADs).
The radical wing of the opposition, led by Nino Burjanadze, a former speaker of parliament, went on to block Tbilisi's railway.
Wearing a baggy, navy corduroy suit brightened by a turquoise Little Bear tie, Hirsh, 51, is holding court in his cinder-block-walled office in a former munitions factory in Toronto.
Former commissioner Bowie Kuhn's authority to block an owner's efforts to sell off his best players for cash was upheld by a court, while Mr. Vincent was deemed to have overstepped when he tried to realign baseball's divisions.
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Leon Thompson looked certain to halt Coalisland's prospects by blasting in a goal but former Tyrone player Peter Donnelly somehow got back to block the pointblank effort on the goal-line.
How times have changed: it was only ten years ago that the government decided to block the extradition of Augusto Pinochet, a former Chilean dictator, on the grounds of his supposed ill health.
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Philippe Redom, a 56-year-old rough sleeper and former chef, prefers to remain in his alcove outside an office block.
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Last week he even indicated that foreign judges and lawyers could play a limited role in the trial of former Khmer Rouge general Ta Mok--still the most public stumbling block on Phnom Penh's road to international legitimacy.
Odinga spoke Thursday with Melissa Block shortly after leaving a meeting with Kibaki that was mediated by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan the first talks between the two rivals since the Dec. 27 election.
There's simmering discontent at the increasing membership of the House of Lords and the former Liberal leader, Lord Steel of Aikwood, has put down a motion to block any more additions.
The goal was tough on the home team, who would have levelled almost instantly but for a superb block by McCarthy, who smothered a shot from Owls substitute - and former Palace player - Tom Soares.
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The spook and the policeman are brought together by the gruesome death of former film star, Mabel Morgan, who is found impaled on the railings outside the block of flats where she lives.
The only credible threat to this centrist block might come from the possible creation of a jihadi party made up of former anti-Soviet guerrillas with conservative social views, bankrolled by Tajiks and headed by a sellable Pushtun.
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Against this block, probably, will be ranged the Democratic Left party and the party of former president Abdala Bucaram, deposed in February.
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