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The delicate issue of US missile defences in Central Europe was on the agenda when Poland's prime minister Donald Tusk arrived in Prague for talks with his Czech counterpart Mirek Topolanek. Washington wants to build a launching pad for ten interceptor missiles in Poland, to work in tandem with an early warning radar system across the border in the Czech Republic. But Mr Tusk is not as fervently pro-American as his predecessor Jaroslaw Kacynski, and Prague and Warsaw are beginning to look slightly out of step on missile defence.

Just a few weeks ago, the future seemed bright for the populist Slovenian opposition party the SNS. Their president, the outspoken Zmago Jelinčič, had a strong showing in presidential elections - especially in the eastern parts of the country. But a row at a party led to a sudden rift, and half of the parliamentary deputies defected.

An exhibition celebrating the history of the gay and lesbian movement in the Czech Republic has just opened in Prague. It is mostly focused on gay culture over the last two decades, a time when Czech homosexuals made great strides in achieving equality. When it comes to a close in the capital, the exhibition will tour the country.

In Poland, one of the first decisions of the new government is to have Polish troops withdrawn from Iraq by the autumn. The move has been approved by the president. But 2008 will see even more difficult foreign missions for Polish soldiers.

This week, a group of 400 nongovernmental organisations from all over Slovakia submitted official requests to withdraw a proposed new law on associations. The groups fear that if the new law on associations is approved in its original version it will have substantially negative effects on the entire NGO sector.

Slovenia is taking on a bit of delicate diplomacy just days after taking over the European Union Presidency. The Croatian navy intercepted an Italian fishing boat in a controversial protection zone in its territorial waters last week. The EU says this could harm Croatia's chance of EU membership. This is just one of a number of thorny issues for Slovenia which sees the presidency as a matter of national pride.

Last June, a group of artists called Ztohoven hijacked a Czech Television programme to broadcast images of a nuclear bomb going off on a peaceful Czech hillside. The mock explosion may have been and gone in a flash, but the fallout has far from disappeared. Last month, Ztohoven won an award from the Czech National Gallery for the work. On Wednesday, State Attorney Dušan Ondráček said that he had brought charges against the group.

Each day Slovakia's best known caricaturist, Shooty, (Martin Sutovec) puts his pencil to work with sharp criticism of Slovak politics and society. Reactions to his caricatures on the former Pope John Paul II or other religious topics were very strong in Slovakia and led to heated debate. Though Shooty does not like to talk to the media, Ela Nahalkova managed to get wome words with the young artist.

Local politicians in the town of Traiskirchen near Vienna are complaining of a flood of asylum seekers since the opening up of borders under the EU's Schengen agreement. Traiskirchen is home to Austria's largest refugee centre and local officials say the number of people accommodated there has more than doubled since border controls with Austria's eastern neighbours were dropped on December 21st. The interior ministry says the situation is being exaggerated and claims most of those coming into Austria will be sent back to the country where they

On average, Poles spends three and a half hours daily in front of the television. Nearly half of that time is devoted to watching TV series or soap operas. This is according to a recent survey by Poland's leading polling center. Anna Piwowarska of Polish Radio's External Service investigates the Polish people's love for television sagas.