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Ethnic German's expelled from Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe at the end of the second World War are applauding German opposition leader Angela Merkel. Ms Merkel, who may become German Chancellor next month, is supporting a center in Berlin to remember their suffering and says there should be an official remembrance day and their history should be taught more in schools. But there's no applause from Poland.

The renowned Slovene mountaineer Tomaz Humar gave himself, and his countrymen, a bit of fright this week. Trying for yet another climbing record in Pakistan, he found himself trapped at a height of six thousand metres. Slovene's held their breath and prepared to hear the worst about their national hero, who was unable to move, running out of supplies, threatened by frostbite and in a place that normal helicopters could not get to.

Slovak athletes have been running up some big successes recently. Their Davis Cup tennis team qualified for the semi-final and will play against Argentina in September, the football team Artmedia Petrzalka made history by being the first Slovak club ever to qualify for the third round of the Champions League. So, despite most sports clubs suffering from a lack of finances a number of them are finding ways to encourage high level performance and win against the toughest competition.

It's not just Poland and Germany who differ over how those expelled ethnic Germans should be depicted by history. Austria and the Czech Republic have their differences over the Sudeten Deutsch. In fact across Central Europe the legacy of the end-of-war expulsions continues to cause friction and demands for compensation, or at least, recognition of suffering. Radio Prague's Ian Willoughby spoke to Berlin-based Czech journalist and academic Jaroslav Sonka about how various countries are dealing with it:

Hungary's environmentalists seem to have won a war with NATO. It seems certain now that a new military radar station will not be built in a protected area on top of Hungary's Zengo Mountain. The North Atlantic Treaty organisation argued the mountain was the best place for their radar but Greenpeace and others have protested, arguing it has been declared a sensitive and protected natural area. The defence ministry is now looking at other locations.

Tensions between Poland and its neighbour Belarus have sharply increased as the authoritarian regime of Belarus President Viktor Lukashenko steps up its campaign against the Polish minority living in the country. Belarus police have arrested leaders of an ethnic Polish organization and Polish politicians have been warned against travelling to the country. Belarus under Lukashenko is often described as Europe's last dictatorship.

The Czech prime minister, Jiri Paroubek, has gone from strength to strength since being appointed three months ago, with a recent poll naming him the most popular politician in the Czech Republic. But in the week he was supposed to be celebrating his 100th day in office, Mr Paroubek has instead found himself in hot water, after he backed the Czech police's violent breakup of a techno music festival. Radio Prague's Ian Willoughy reports.

Slovene's are getting a realistic look at what life was like in their country 200 years ago. An open air museum at Rogatec brings to life the everyday-life and tells us why some windows were very small and some door hinges never oiled.

The popular Slovak tourist region, the High Tatra Mountains, has been hit by the worst forest fire in recent history. The blaze began during hot weather at the end of July and burnt out over 230 hectares. The cost of the immediate damage has been estimated at 410,000 euros and the ecological damage is extensive.

A new journal analysing trends in politics, society and economy in Eastern and Central Europe has just been launched. Published in Hungary, it's called "The Analyst - Central and East European Review" and it's aimed at decision makers from the region between Russia and Western Europe. We spoke to the editor, Istvan Zalai: