ICE - special | All stories

Central Europe has been gripped by reality show fever - primarily by the show Big Brother, where a selected number of people with very different personalities spend a few months in a luxurious villa and have to get along. But in Slovakia, people were glued to their TV screens last week to follow the life of a businessman turned homeless.

Prague Castle dominates the sky-line of the Czech capital and is one of the most potent symbols of the Czech Republic's culture and history. A new exhibition, at the Castle, features haunting and intriguing photographs of the former seat of Czech kings - from the days when the art of photography was very much in its infancy. Radio Prague's Ian Willoughby reports from the exhibition.

The Slovene parliament's approval of the setting up of a protected zone in the northern Adriatic has led to further friction between Slovenia and Croatia. Slovenia says the law would protect the country's sovereign rights on the open sea; Croatia sees the move as legally void and unfounded.

Hungarian film has a rich tradition, but in recent years the country's cinematography - mainly due to a lack of funding and a lack of inspiring subject matter - has failed to impress film critics. But those days appear to be over. Hungarian films seem to have regained a voice of their own and are becoming increasingly popular with Hungarians and festival audiences abroad.

Poland's two right-wing presidential candidates will square it off in a second round of elections in a week's time. The first round proved inconclusive with front runner liberal Donald Tusk gaining a slim lead over his rival conservative Lech Kaczynski. There is mounting concern that the final leg of the presidential contest may be brutal, with both candidates slinging mud at each other.

Turkish politicians were celebrating on Monday after the European Union finally offered the country official talks on membership. After 24 hours of tough negotiations between the EU 25, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul arrived in Luxembourg, the first stop on a long road towards joining the EU. So where do the politicians and people of Central Europe stand on the Turkey question?

Before the Second World War, Warsaw was the biggest Jewish city in the world, with a third of its population Jewish. For the past couple of years, the Polish capital has paid tribute to Jewish culture by organizing a cultural festival, during which one surviving street from the former Jewish ghetto is brought back to life through a series of open air events.

For decades Slovenia has been designating a week of every year to a campaign that reminds the public of the right of every child - no matter how different - to live a happy and comfortable life, without discrimination. This year was no exception and the 41st campaign organised by Slovenia's Friends of Youth Association was launched on Monday.

The result of a Eurobarometer poll earlier this year suggests that less than one in three Hungarians speak a foreign language - in most cases English or German. This leaves the Hungarians lagging behind even Europe's notorious non-linguists, the British. A fresh survey by the Median research company not only confirms this but paints an even darker picture.

The BIB abbreviation stands for the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava. This unique event organised by the Bibiana house of art for children has turned 20 this year. As it is only every second year, this means that children's book illustration enthusiasts have been meeting in Bratislava for 40 years. This year's BIB features the biggest number of illustrators since the event's establishment in 1967.