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After May 1st the Roma will be the European Unions largest minority. They are arguably Europe's most marginalized and persecuted minority too - Attacked in their homelands and often rejected as spongers elsewhere. At least that's how they're being portrayed in some British newspapers at the moment. Those reports have raised fears of a flood of Roma migration after EU enlargement. But is that really likely to happen.

The giant Gabcikovo dam on the Danube River has been a source of dispute between Hungary and Slovakia for over a decade. The Project was begun by Hungary and the former Czechoslovakia in 1977. The goal was to dam the Danube, all the way from Bratislava to Budapest and so generate lots of clean hydroelectric energy. The Dam was eventually finished by Slovakia after Hungary pulled out of the project in 1989. Hungary now says the re-channeling of the Danube for the dam has caused the Northern Hungarian region of Szigetkoz to dry up. Radio Budapest's

The Czech and Slovak governments this week appealed to the 15 European Union members to open their labour markets. Their appeal comes as Sweden, Britain and others say they will block migration from the new member states if there's a rush after the first of May when the EU enlarges - going against a long European tradition of free movement of labour. Britain says it will restrict social security benefits to prevent what Prime Minister Tony Blair calls the "pull factor" but insists it's not going back on a pledge to open its labour market to the

Cisco Systems - an international supplier of networking for the Internet - has started up a network-specialist training course in Hungary. Nothing unusual about that you might think - except its been launched for inmates of the Nagyfa Prison in the southeast of the country. So far, 15 convicts have enrolled on the course, which promises to turn them into highly competitive network specialists. Petra Hajdu of Radio Budapest talked to asked Cisco Systems consultant Balázs Mátrai.

More than 100 Orthodox rabbis gathered in Vienna this week to find ways to revive Jewish life in eastern and central European communities. Many communities are still recovering from the devastation of World War II and the repression during four decades of communism. European Commission President Romano Prodi also attended the conference, which has been dealing with education and support for Jewish communities - mainly in the former communist countries. Eduard Serotta is a filmmaker and photographer who's Vienna based Centropa organisation researches

A much higher percentage of women than men finish their science degrees in central and Eastern Europe - but only a fraction of those women go on to hold positions as researchers or professors in the scientific world. That's according to a report from the European Commission. Their expert group known as ENWISE wants to why women in Central and Eastern Europe are not more represented in Science.

The 100th anniversary of the premier of Leos Janacek's opera "Jenufa" is being celebrated at a Janacek festival in the Moravian city of Brno. One of those attending the festival is the Australian conductor Sir Charles Mackerras, who has done much to champion Janacek's music around the world. Sir Charles spoke to Radio Prague about why Janacek enjoys popularity abroad, but is less well liked at home.

As few as 20 thousand people, the remnants of the pre-war 3 million Jewish population, live in Poland today - including the tiny community in southern city of Kraków. They want to save their cultural heritage for posterity. But the revival hasn't been easy

The British Imperial Tobacco Company has decided to close their factory in Slovenia - with the loss of over 200 jobs. But it's not so much the amount of jobs cuts that is worrying some experts. Rather that the closure could be a sign of a growing trend in foreign owned companies which are closing factories in the EU accession countries - in order to move to cheaper labour markets elsewhere. But are the fears justified?

A report in a Czech newspaper detailing plans to modernise the 1000-year-old Prague Castle complex caused a minor stir this week. The paper claimed the plans included everything from new shops and restaurants to a hairdressers and even a branch of McDonald's! The article hasn't gone down well with the President's Office, which accuses the newspaper of blowing things out of proportion.