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We've made the point more than once that Slovenia is a small Central European Country - about the size of Israel or Wales. So, if you have never tasted Slovenian wine it's not because they don't make it it's just that they don't make a lot. But some Slovenian wines are winning an international reputation. The Crnko Family Winery recently took a silver medal at the San Francisco International Wine Competition for their 2005 Riesling Ice Wine. Radio Slovenia International's Srecko Trglec asked the American Ambassador to Slovenia, Thomas Robertson,

A political scandal is rocking Poland. It involves recordings made in secret and aired on an independent TV station. On the recording a high ranking politician from the ruling conservative party is heard to ask an opposition MP what she wants for switching sides. The background to this is the collapse of the coalition between conservatives, nationalists and populists in a dispute over public finances and Poland's role in the US-led mission in Afghanistan. Slawek Szefs reports:

Show trials featuring trumped up charges and fabricated confessions remain one of the strongest symbols of Communist state repression throughout the former Eastern Bloc. Czechoslovakia's most infamous show trials involved senior Communist Rudolf Slansky and resistance leader Milada Horakova, both of whom were given the death penalty. But not all defendants were so high-profile: a newly discovered recording reflects Communist Party efforts to use the courts to crush a whole class - relatively wealthy farmers.

Last year was a double anniversary of the great Hungarian composer Bela Bartok - his 125th birthday and the 60th anniversary of his death in exile in New York in 1945. Now, the entire works of Bela Bartok are to be published by Hungary's oldest record company - Hungaroton. Gyorgyi Jakobi of Radio Budapest spoke to Hungaroton's acting manager, Mate Hollos:

In Slovakia, the government and the utility companies are steamed up over energy prices. The government promised to lower fuel and energy prices by 5 percent but some companies have just submitted tariff proposals that put the price up by an average of 15 percent as of October. Prime Minister Robert Fico is displeased and has made statements which appear to threaten the independence of the energy market regulator - a body which by law has the final say in setting energy prices. Anca Dragu reports from Bratislava:

When the King of Cambodia Norodom Sihamoni arrived in Prague this week the media was out in force for the event. And unlike with other royal visitors they were allowed close up - jostling to put questions to him in the Czech language. The King of Cambodia answered them in fluent Czech saying he was delighted to be back in what he considered to be his "second homeland".

Poland's decision to send 1,000 troops to Afghanistan as part of a NATO multinational force is seen in Europe as a logical consequence of the country's support for American-led operations in the war on terror. But for the first time, the national consensus on Poland's role in such missions seems to have been broken, with the opposition accusing the government of sending Polish troops into combat, rather than a peacekeeping mission. Slawek Szefs reports from Warsaw:

Many non-governmental organisations are heavily dependent on donations from the corporate sector, and in Slovakia they put a lot of energy into lobbying for funding. But now Slovak NGOs expect to see a big drop in corporate income. The Finance Ministry plans to abolish a tax provision allowing firms to give some of what they owe in taxes to non-profit organisations. Radio Slovakia International's Anca Dragu reports:

The well known Slovenian folk group Terrafolk are not a folk group in the traditional sense. They consider the popular image of folk music as boring and twist it on its head. In 2003 they won a BBC3 World Music Audience Award. This year Terrafolk is participating in the music festival "September" which is currently underway in Slovenia's second largest city in Maribor.

This week Budapest was the scene of violent riots and Hungary's Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany looked like a politician without a future. A political storm blew up over a speech, leaked to the media, in which he said the government had lied about the state of the economy.