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Budapest has scored well in a business travel index published in the Economist magazine. It comes out ahead of destinations like Frankfurt, Hong Kong and New York when it comes to meeting the needs of the travelling executive. To put this to the test, Radio Budapest spoke to Les Nemethy, the much travelled president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Budapest:

There's renewed tension between Slovenia and Croatia over their disputed border. The issue of where the border should be remains unresolved since both countries gained independence from the former Yugoslavia. A key point is the maritime border and fishing rights in the Bay of Piran - where there've been a number of incidents between fishermen from the two neighbours. And last week, emotions ran high once more.

Slovakia has three big automobile plants in three different parts of the country. They are among the biggest foreign investors in Slovakia and the government is hoping they will reduce the wealth gap between the West, especially around the capital Bratislava and other poorer parts of the country.

2005 brought some big changes for Poland. Aleksander Kwasniewski ended his two terms as Polish president and handed over his office to his political opponent, Lech Kaczynski. Several weeks earlier, Kwasniewski's camp, and the liberals, lost the parliamentary elections, paving the way for the conservative Law and Justice Party to form a minority cabinet.

Sixteen years after the fall of the communism, the crimes of the totalitarian regime are still coming to light. On Wednesday, two former agents of the communist intelligence services were charged with murder dating almost 50 years back. In 1957, the wife of a French official was killed after she opened a parcel bomb intended for her husband. Now the two face jail terms of up to 15 years.

Slovenia has one of Europe's most homogenous populations. Foreigners make up a mere two percent of the populace but that hasn't stopped them from kicking up a storm, participating in Slovenia's football league. A new team of foreign footballers has been battling the locals and having a great time doing it.

A shiver went through Central Europe on Monday when the Russian energy giant Gazprom cut gas supplies to Ukraine because of a price dispute. That led to a major drop in natural gas arriving in almost every Central European country. Their supplies come from Russia via Ukraine pipe-lines. By the middle of the week gas supplies were back to normal but not before relations with Moscow had been sorely tested.

Slovakia might be a young independent nation but its people have a long shared national memory. That memory has become part of the creation of Slovak identity. Another important element in creating national identity for Slovaks is mythology. Significant events, people and places become sacred for its citizens and their values. A new book looks at the truth behind Slovak myths.

The Bibliotheca Corviniana, the famous library of Renaissance Hungarian King Matthias, has now been inscribed into UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. The collection was the second largest library of its time after the Vatican's and it contained works written for King Matthias on philosophy, the arts, history, law, literature.

The small mostly Catholic country of Slovenia is also enjoying a feat of Christmas festivities but with a lot of variation on the theme. Michael Manske of Radio Slovenia International takes a look at the traditions of Slovenia's Christmas.