111.   Poland is one of three former Soviet bloc countries invited to join NATO next year.

112.   Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic are the most likely former Soviet bloc countries to be admitted first.

113.   Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic this year will be the first former Soviet bloc countries to join NATO.

114.   Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary remain the most likely former Soviet bloc countries to gain entry earliest.

115.   Overcharging Western tourists is not uncommon in former Soviet bloc countries, but has been limited mostly to cab fares.

116.   Other nations, including the former Soviet bloc states of Romania and Czech Republic, also have offered personnel.

117.   People are watching to see whether Communists who have done well in elections in Russia, Poland and other former Soviet bloc states will try to roll back reforms.

118.   Payments are being made to Nazi victims living in the former Communist bloc, who for over half a century were excluded from compensation.

119.   Partly for that reason, actual expansion of the alliance appears to be a long way off, despite the eagerness of former Soviet bloc countries to join.

120.   Poland has rapidly transformed itself into one of the strongest economies in the former East bloc, partly out of hopes of quickly joining the European Union.