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When you visited the primeval forest of Bialowieza on the Polish Belarussian border a few years ago to see European bison roaming in the wild, you couldn't expect to stay in a luxurious hotel, because there weren't any. Now Bialowieza has a dozen of new hotels, with new tourist facilities springing up all the time. But according to some, who cherished this place that seemed stuck in a time warp, Bialowieza may now be more comfortable to visit, but at the expense of its special charm.

European Union Foreign Ministers are compiling a report on alleged Serb oppression of the Hungarian minority in the Vojvodina province of Serbia. Hungary alleges atrocities have been carried out against the ethnic Hungarian minority who have lived in the Vojvodina province for centuries. Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has toured the region. He says it's in nobody's interest to have new ethnic tensions in the Balkans. But, he also appears to play down Hungary's complaints. So are the Hungarians of Vojvodina subjected to attacks and

A recent report from the World Bank praises Slovakia as being the country which improved its business environment the most during the last year. The report called Doing Business 2005 praises the country for passing reforms to fiscal and labour policy, reducing the time needed to set up new businesses, reducing red tape and improving the debt collection system.

Beowulf, written by an unknown Christian poet some time between the 8th and 10th centuries, is now regarded as the one of the most important texts in Old English. In Prague, academic Jan Cermak has done the first ever Czech translation of Beowulf, which was a mammoth task. Radio Prague's Ian Willoughby asked Mr Cermak roughly how many years the work had taken.

For the second time this year an unemployed woman from eastern Slovakia is on a hunger strike. Her first strike went largely unnoticed but this time the public paid attention.

The Czech Republic's commercial television stations - founded since the Velvet Revolution - have traditionally relied on imported soap operas, many of them from South America. But now, however, the commercial channels are investing heavily in domestically produced drama, and the autumn schedules are - for the first time - full of Czech-produced serials.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski has made an impassioned plea to the Washington administration to be 'flexible, open and gracious'. His interview with the New York Times has raised some eyebrows in Warsaw.

Before the breakdown of Yugoslavia, Slovenian companies relied to a large extend on trade and business with Serbia, as former Yugoslavia used to be the main market for Slovenian companies. After the fall of former Yugoslavia, business with Serbia Montenegro declined due to the new political and economic situation. Now many years later, Slovenian companies are keen on spreading business in Serbia again.

In Budapest, Picasso has been packing them in at the Palace of Exhibitions. Fifty thousand people have been to see Picasso: Illustrated Books and Espana 1950 - The Decade of Rebirth. And across the other side of Budapest's Heroes square in the Museum of Fine Arts - a Monet exhibition attracted 300,000 visitors. We spoke to the director of the Palace of Exhibitions Istvan Barkoczi, and asked him - what's the secret to a successful exhibition?

On August 31st, 24 years ago in Gdansk the Polish authorities signed an accord with striking shipyard workers which became known as the "August Agreement" and in effect signalled the beginning of the end of communism. The day also became symbolic in Poland for united effort which could topple walls - which brought forth the first free trade union in the eastern bloc, Solidarity - and which did change the world: