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There have been a series of shock resignations and disputes within Czech public television's news section over the last year, amid accusations of political influence being exerted on the institution. There was a new shock on Friday when the head of Czech TV's news department, Jiri Hodac, tendered his resignation after just four months in the job. Mr Hodac claimed, among other things, that unspecified people outside Czech TV management were enjoying an ever greater influence inside the organization. So what exactly IS going on in Czech public TV?

A musical interpretation of a poem by the late Vaclav Pinkava, alias Jan Kresadlo, author, painter, mathematician and linguist, to name just a few talents of this remarkable man. Pinkava, who emigrated from communist Czechoslovakia in 1968, spent much of his life in exile in Britain, acting as a de facto ambassador of Czechoslovak science and culture abroad. Sunday marked the 5th anniversary of his untimely death, and this weekend Radio Prague's travelled to the southern town of Zdar nad Sazavou, currently hosting an exhibition of his work, and spoke to his eldest son, Vaclav, about his extraordinary legacy.

An international conference entitled "Religious Liberty and the Ideology of the State" has just come to an end in Prague. Sponsored by the Washington DC-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the Oxford Becket Institute, the conference dealt with such issues as the nature of religious liberty, state-imposed religion and the challenges and promises of the 21st Century. talked to some of the participants.

Few laws evoke as much public interest and controversy as the one now being discussed by Czech politicians. The final version of the new transport law will affect every single inhabitant of this country--be they drivers, passengers, cyclists or pedestrians. The Senate ended a long and heated discussion on the issue on Thursday, and sent the bill back to the lower house with a number of important amendments. has the details:

The Catholic Church in the Czech Republic is deep in crisis. The head of the Czech Catholic Church, Miloslav Vlk, has openly admitted that the Church is in turmoil, and the most recent case of a serious scandal involving a Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing his altar boys has only added fuel to the fire. A theology student in the Moravian city of Olomouc has filed criminal charges against the priest, Father Frantisek Merta, as well as the local archbishop, who he says tried to cover up the case. With more details on the case, here's

What could possibly bring forty-two people of all ages, shapes and sizes from different corners of the world to the little Czech town of Dobruska in the foothills of the Orlicke Mountains? The answer is simple. In one way or another they all have roots going back to the Czech Republic, and they are in Dobruska on scholarships given by the Czech Foreign Ministry, to spend a month learning the language of their forebears, and getting to know the country that they--or their ancestors--left many years ago. went to meet some of the students and

Representatives of many different faiths and denominations from Europe and the United States gathered in Prague on Wednesday for the 3rd Congress of the Beckett Fund. has this report.

Following the devastating floods that struck Moravia in 1997, it became clear that the Czech Republic's emergency services desperately needed to co-ordinate their efforts. The new Integrated Emergency System seems to be the country's answer to that call. The new system will be unveiled on Saturday and earlier this week spoke with a senior member of the Prague Fire Brigade, Dalibor Gosman and began by asking him how the new system would work.

The Czech economy has apparently witnessed a revival over the past few months, a trend confirmed by the latest data from the Czech Statistics Office. Besides a significant increase in industrial production, the productivity of the Czech workforce has also started catching up with that of the the European Union - a development warmly welcomed by both economic experts and politicians. RP's asked economic analyst Radomir Jac from Commerzbank whether the 6-percent increase in industrial production could be attributed to the government's revitalisation

You may remember the tragic case of the little boy from Hamburg who was mauled to death in June by two pit bull terriers. The savage attack revived the debate on aggressive breeds in Germany, and forced the German government to impose a ban on the breeding of all dangerous dogs. But there is little legislation to deal with the problem here in the Czech Republic, and even if there was, what happens when someone is mauled by a 'family' dog such as a German shepherd? reports: