ICE - special | All stories

Bratislava's City Gallery is hosting one of the most controversial art exhibitions in its history. That controversy begins with the title - "The Pope Smoked Dope." The Slovak Catholic Church has objected and there's been a general fuss in the media. Michal Groch had a word with the curator of this unusual exhibition, Zdenek Primus..

Human Rights in Chechnya, the future of Kosovo, press freedom, and the level of democracy in Russia were all topics on the agenda when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Austrian capital Vienna this week. But those issues took a back seat to business deals. Mr Putin's visit demonstrated how Russia and Central Europe are growing ever closer economically, even as political tensions are increasing.

In the Czech Republic, two weeks after an eight-year-old boy was found bound and naked in a broom cupboard, the case has taken a mysterious turn. The abused boy was originally believed to have a 13-year-old adopted sister. But now a Czech daily claims that DNA tests have shown she is in fact a 34-year-old woman. Dita Asiedu reports on the case, which has highlighted a number of shortcomings in Czech legislation...

The city of Maribor in Slovenia is again hosting a festival with a focus on young people. It's called "Magdalena" and it's for people under 30, mainly those working in creative areas such as advertising and public communication. The festival takes a critical stance towards unethical practices in the media and irresponsible advertising. Srdjan Trifunovic is the festival's coordinator and she told Heather Pirjevec from Radio Slovenia International why the festival is focussed on young people.

A summit between the EU and Russia at the end of the week was in trouble, even before it began. The EU wants what it calls a "strategic partnership" with Russia but that's being blocked by a host of disputes. Energy supplies, Moscow's ban on Polish agriculture products and Russia's democratic and human rights values are just a few of the problems. The future of Kosovo is another.

Slovakia spent 51 years building up socialism and Soviet styled communism. All of that occurred between 1948 and 1989 when Slovakia was a part of Czechoslovakia. There are people who spent their entire adult life under communism and there are thousands whose lives were destroyed because they disagreed with those in power. Anca Dragu reports on why, 18 years on, there are attempts to "name and shame" figures from the communist past.

A special guest at the Cannes Film Festival this year is the renowned Polish director Andrzej Wajda. He presides over Cannes Classics, a series of screenings and events dedicated to 'rediscovered cinema, restored prints and DVD releases of the great works of the past'. Wajda will present a restored copy of 'Canal', a feature that brought him a Special Jury Prize in Cannes fifty years ago and skyrocketed him to international fame. In Wajda's native Poland meanwhile film lovers are looking forward to the release of his new film.

In Prague last week there was a brief ceremony to commemorate the thousands of Russian émigrés illegally abducted by the Soviet secret police at the close of World War Two. The abductions began as soon as the Red Army began to liberate Czechoslovakia in 1944, and continued long after the Soviets arrived in Prague in May 1945. It's one of the most mysterious chapters in Czechoslovakia's 20th century history, but the fate of those abducted has not been forgotten.

Economic growth among members of the Visegrád Group, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland differs quite dramatically - ranging from a modest 3 percent in Hungary to a scorching 9 percent in Slovakia. But those growth figures are likely to converge in the next five years according to the Institute for World Economics at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

There's a big row on between Estonia and Russia over the removal of a Soviet era monument from the centre of the capital Tallinn. The Kremlin is furious that the statue of a Red Army Soldier has been moved. And with that dispute simmering away there's another one looming between Warsaw and Moscow as Poland develops a new law on national monuments. That law goes to Parliament in a couple of weeks and it's generating lots of controversy - in Poland and Russia.