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Slovenia is one of the new EU member states where unemployment is low and few people are moving abroad. Nevertheless poverty among young people has become an issue and the number of people claiming social benefits is on the rise. In fact, since Slovenia's independence in 1991 the number of adults receiving social assistance has increased four times over. Ksenija Samaradzija Matul from Radio Slovenia International has more.

A debate over gay marriage and equal rights for same sex couples has begun in Austria. The debate was sparked by Andreas Khol, the Parliamentary President and a senior figure in the conservative People's Party. Joanna King reports.

When the European Union enlarged on May 1st most of the old member states kept restrictions on the movement of labour from the new member states. The exceptions were Britain and Ireland. One result is that since May 1st 11,000 Poles have moved to Ireland for work. Direct flights from Warsaw to Dublin now cater for the traffic. Elzbieta Krajewsa reports on the attractions of the Emerald Isle - for Poles.

In many countries in central and eastern Europe, black football players frequently come in for racist abuse from the terraces. Clubs and national associations have sometimes come in for heavy fines, but the problem shows no signs of going away. The Czech government has just launched a new anti-racism campaign, part of which focuses on the issue of racism in football. Radio Prague's Ian Willoughby reports.

Polish actress Alicja Borkowska has been selected from among 600 candidates to play Cleopatra in Timothy Walker's new musical. The performances will be played in London's National Theatre.

This summer, Slovenia drew closer to adopting the Euro. At midnight on June 27, Slovenia, along with Estonia and Lithuania, entered the exchange rate mechanism II, also known as the ERM II or "waiting room" for the Euro. After a two-year wait, countries in ERM II can adopt the euro - as long as nothing goes wrong in the meantime.

The 12th Sziget Festival, most probably Europe's best known and biggest cultural event for the young attracted a record 369,000 visitors this year to that small island between Buda and Pest on the river Danube. While performers included a vast array of names in all genres - all the way from the Pet Shop Boys through Cannibal Corpse to Roni Size, visitors could also take part in many cultural programs, games and contests between August 4th and 11th.

The Czech Republic has one of the worst road death and injury records in Europe. One problem is that many people don't bother wearing their seatbelts, especially in built-up areas, unaware of the terrible injuries and even death that this can cause. To tackle the problem a high-profile safety campaign is underway, including, among other things, taking a crash test simulator around the country and inviting people to feel for themselves the impact of a crash. Radio Prague's Rob Cameron went along and tried it.

The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary are all moving away from compulsory military service to a professional army. But NATO member Poland and neutral Austria both cling to conscription. And according to some economists, that has a negative impact on economic growth. One of those economists is Gudrun Biffl, a labour market expert at Austria's Institute for Economic Research. Kerry Skyring asked her - how does abolishing conscription help the economy?

On June 10th, 2004, Martin Strel started swimming down the Yangtze river, the longest river in Asia, the third longest in the world. He reached Shanghai in 40 days on July 30th, 2004, one day before planned, and so managed to conquer over 4,000 km of this mighty river. Quite a number of people deemed his latest project impossible and for many it was beyond comprehension.