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This past week one of Slovenia's most trusted banks fell victim to the greatest robbery in the country's history. The heist was carried out under the cover of night and it was violent although no one was killed. The robbery has sent shockwaves through the nation.

With a population of 40 million, Poland is a pretty big country by European standards. But the number of people with Polish roots abroad is estimated at another 10 million. There are different reasons as to why they left and where they settled. For example those who live in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan in central Asia were forcibly sent there by Stalin.

In Slovakia, the modern cultural phenomenon of 'blogging' has taken off. If you haven't discovered them, 'blogs' are the more personal type of articles on the internet. The software enabling the personal postings has been around since the late 1990´s.

It's less than two weeks until the 16th anniversary of the start of the Velvet Revolution that brought down Communism in Czechoslovakia. But memories of the Communist period are receding rapidly from the public consciousness, and the nation's schoolchildren have a particularly sketchy idea of what went on. To put that right, the Czech human rights group People in Need will be spending November visiting 330 schools, armed with documentary films detailing the excesses and cruelties of Communism. They're also bringing with them victims of the regime

Hungary has nominated the town of Pecs for the title of Cultural Capital of Europe in 2010. Pecs was chosen over six other cities, including the capital Budapest. The international jury said the bid aims to develop the city's cultural wealth and focuses on its regional role. Istvan Tarrosy is the man heading the Pecs bid. He told Radio Budapest why this bid won favour with the jury.

Poles last weekend elected the conservative candidate Lech Kaczynski as their new President. If his campaign is any indication, Mr Kaczynski's Presidency looks like setting itself apart from those of his predecessors. He says post communist Poland is tainted by corruption and by economic reforms that benefit only elites and promises a clean break with the past.

Despite Hungary's economic growth over the last decade, poverty - especially child poverty - is a burning issue. The socialist-liberal government says it is now declaring war on poverty, and is commissioning a group of experts to tell it how to fight it. Radio Budapest spoke to the head of the group, sociologist Zsuzsa Ferge:

It is 16 years now since the dramatic collapse of communist rule around the former Eastern Bloc, and for young people in the region communism is, if anything, a vague memory. But how do today's young generation view society, and their own lives? That question is addressed in a new survey of 17- to 27-year-olds in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Romania by the magazine Reader's Digest. Ian Willoughby spoke to the Czech co-ordinator of the poll, Dr Ivan Tomek, and asked him in which of the countries surveyed are young people most

The UN Security Council has given the go-ahead for talks to begin soon on the final status of Kosovo. The Balkan province with a majority ethnic Albanian population has been run by the United Nations since 1999. Kosovo Albanians overwhelmingly want independence but Belgrade is determined they will remain part of Serbia. Last week a nine-point plan for Kosovo was put forward by Slovenia's President Janez Drnovsek and it provoked some strong reactions in Serbia-Montenegro. According to this plan Kosovo could be independent within five years, if certain

Dolna zem or Lower Land was the term used in the past to describe the southern regions of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. In the past many Slovaks would leave home in search of a living in those regions. These expatriates may have left their homes behind but they took their culture with them.