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The German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has been elected as the new Pope. As Pope Benedict XVI, he shall strive to unite all Christians and has vowed to hold "open and sincere dialogue", even with other religious groups. But to Central Europeans, who hold a special place in their hearts for his Polish predecessor who helped restore faith during the authoritarian communist days, will this new pope be able to continue with the legacy of John Paul II and reach believers and non-believers alike?

The Travel, Leisure and Tourism Group of the financial consultants KPMG in Central and Eastern Europe has prepared a research study analysing what low cost airlines have brought to the Hungarian market and how the tourism industry could benefit as the low cost airline segment evolves further.

The Polish Institute in Bratislava is hosting an exhibition of drawings by Polish film director Andrzej Wajda. The exhibition is an accompanying event of the 12th Febiofest film festival, which is currently underway in Slovakia and has just come to an end in the Czech Republic. The world cinema icon's Japanese-like dreamy pictures offer the perfect time out for Slovak film buffs like us. We met up with Mr Wajda at the institute.

The collapse of communism in Europe at the end of the 1980s and early 1990s opened up Eastern Europe's markets to foreign investors. But while foreign capital was needed in countries like Slovenia, there were also reservations about what it might do to the country.

Slovenia's government recently approved new draft legislation on its public broadcaster - RTV Slovenija. But the planned law has been heavily criticised by journalists and media experts from inside and outside Slovenia. Critics say the bill would infringe on journalists autonomy and open the door to more political influence.

Moscow and Warsaw are at loggerheads over the late Chechen president Dzhokar Dudayev, who was killed in an air-strike back in 1996 during the first war in the southern Russian region. The row erupted when Warsaw city councillors decided to name a roundabout at the outskirts of the city after the Chechen freedom fighter. In response, Moscow threatened to name a street next to the Polish embassy after a Tsarist official notorious for hanging Polish freedom fighters.

The U.N. Human Rights Commission last week passed a U.S.-sponsored proposal condemning Cuba for its record on human rights. The vote has been widely welcomed in Central Europe where countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland are highly critical of Fidel Castro and his regime. But it wasn't always so. Before 1989 the countries of Central and Eastern Europe were close allies of fellow Communist Cuba.

The University of Omniscience is a series of public science lectures launched in Hungary about 3 years ago. It recently celebrated its 100th lectures and is generally thought to be a sweeping success. The lectures also go out on public television, schools stage contests linked to them, and books are published. The man behind the lectures is Norbert Kroo, Secretary General of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

In Bratislava, the leader of an ethnic Hungarian coalition has asked both the Slovak and Hungarian Parliaments to apologize to each other for their persecution of ethnic minorities in the years immediately after WWII. This daring proposal has attracted some very harsh criticism.

The political crisis in the Central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan has seen Slovenia playing a major mediating role. Slovenia currently holds the rotating presidency of Europe's largest security organisation, the OSCE. And it's the OSCE which has taken the lead in international efforts to ensure a peaceful transition in Kyrgyzstan since protesters forced President Askar Akayev from power just over a week ago.