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It was 50 years ago that the Polish capital Warsaw received what many called a "non-returnable gift of friendship from the Soviet Union" - the city's Palace of Culture. But while at one time many of the capital's residents resented the presence of what is the country's tallest building, today it is seen by most as a perfect place for leisure and entertainment. Radio Polonia's Michal Kubicki reports from Warsaw.

Four days after the first of the recent terrorist attacks in London, one of the polling agencies in Slovakia published a survey in which 52 percent of respondents were convinced that terrorists would never attack Slovakia. The Minister of Interior, Vladimir Palko expressed a similar opinion.

Slovenia is classified as only one region under the European Union's NUTS 2 region system, which stands for nomenclature of territorial units for statistics. For those regions a minimum of 800.000 and a maximum of 3 million people applies as a classification standard. Despite those requirements, there are more than 56 exceptions in the EU, with some of the regions reaching only 400.000 inhabitants.

The latest attempts by bombers to bring fear to the heart of the British capital London have once again focused minds around Europe on the issue of terrorism. One of Hungary's most respected experts on the subject is Sebestyen Gorka, director of Budapest's Institute for Transitional Democracy and International Security; Hungarian Radio's Gyorgi Jakobi asked Mr Gorka if he thinks the latest terror attacks have really raised levels of fear or unease around the continent.

One of the last decisions of the Polish Parliament in its current term of office was the election of a new Ombudsman. He is 55 year old lawyer Professor Andrzej Rzeplinski, associated for many years with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. Radio Polonia spoke to Professor Rzeplinski about the tasks he'll have to tackle during his five-year term and the sort of complaints that Poles lodge against the public administration and the courts.

The international Radovljica Festival has, since its renewal in 1997, presented chamber music of past eras on authentic historical instruments and stylistically as close as possible to historical performance practices. The contrasted concert programmes also include contemporary music and new commissions by Slovene and other composers for period instruments.

For a long time now most Slovaks have had a high opinion of their high school education system. But this view is being challenged by the introduction of a new type of secondary school leaving examination which has been getting poor reports from people who say this type of testing puts unnecessary pressure on the students. Others say the new exams will gradually win over the sceptics.

Over the last decade the Czech Republic has had a thriving film industry, with dozens of foreign film companies shooting in the country every year. But a new trend has seen production companies looking further east, to countries like Hungary and Romania, which unlike the Czech Republic, offer attractive tax incentives to visiting film makers. But how long will the Czechs be able to compete? Radio Prague's Ian Willoughby has been finding out.

The Visegrad Four - Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia met in Budapest this week. The Slovenian and Austrian leaders were also represented at the talks which centred on finding a solution to the European Unions deadlock over its future budget and a way forward after the rejection of the constitutional treaty. For the budget Hungary has proposed a compromise which would see a three year transitional plan if agreement can't be reached on a seven year budget. Hungary is now chairing the Visegrad group - referred to as the V4.

The four countries of the Visegrad Group - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, feature high in a new survey on their capacity to attract foreign capital. This Annual Attractiveness Survey was compiled by the international consultancy firm Ernst and Young.