51.   Part of the idea was reaching out to young, disgruntled east Germans who may look to the former communists or the extreme right in September.

52.   Rankled by rifts between reformists and former communists, former President Ion Iliescu on Saturday was reelected leader of his main opposition Social Democracy Party.

53.   Poland is now governed by former communists, who have promised to go ahead with privatization.

54.   A center-right conservative coalition has won weekend parliamentary elections over the former communists now in government, final vote tallies released Tuesday show.

55.   A leader of the former East German communists failed Thursday in a legal bid to bar parliamentary debate on his alleged secret police ties under communism.

56.   A new proposal by the former communists to open secret police files to the public was blocked by opposition parties and some defectors in the ruling leftist coalition.

57.   A leader of the former East German communists headed for Belgrade on Tuesday on a peace mission for Kosovo, his party said.

58.   A Romanian tycoon close to former communists in the previous government is under investigation for cheating and forgery, a police spokesman said Wednesday.

59.   A year later, the anti-communist Democratic Party swept the former communists completely from power.

60.   According Czech law, former high-ranking communists and agents of the communist secret police are banned from public office.