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It's not easy being a doctor in the Czech Republic. This is a claim frequently made by many Czech physicians. As of the beginning of 2001, health insurance companies will probably end up paying more for medical care. This will apparently leave doctors, especially ones with private practises, fearing that they will not be paid for their work in time, and they therefore claim patients will have to pay in cash. More from :

On Monday, Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder sought to allay fears in his country over a possible influx of cheap labour from East European countries following EU expansion. Chancellor Schroeder announced in a speech in the Bavarian town of Weiden, a border town where such fears abound, that Germany would call for a seven-year transition period following accession, in which unskilled labourers from new member countries would not have freedom of movement, as guaranteed by the Schengen Treaty, The German Chancellor said the measure could be

Well those of you living in Prague will have woken up this morning to the first flakes of snow - and with it our chances of a White Christmas. continues this week's look at the Christmas memories and traditions of the Radio Prague staff. Today, Vladimir Tax and Ita Dungan talk about two very different Christmases - Czech, and Irish.

And now on a sad note - it was announced in Prague last night that the Director of the Prague Spring International Music Festival, Oleg Podgorny, passed away. In the following report, pays tribute to his life and work.

Well, it's less than a week until Christmas, and so Radio Prague's has decided to find out what Christmas really means to the people behind the voices that you hear every day on your radio. Throughout the week we'll be bringing you Christmas traditions and how they're celebrated by the international community that makes up Radio Prague. Today, Pavla talks to Olga Szantova, who gives us a glimpse of a traditional Slovak Christmas, and to Rob Cameron, who talks about very different Christmas memories.

The Four Party Coalition - a group of four right-of-centre opposition parties - is beginning the process of electing a single leader. It's a painstaking process - the coalition ranges from centre to right, including Christian Democrats, former members of the Civic Democrats who defected to form the Freedom Union, and several smaller right-wing parties. The Four-Party Coalition is a negligible force in the lower house - the Chamber of Deputies - but did very well in recent Senate and local elections. But can the party unite around a single leader

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Those of you who've visited London will have heard of 'the Big Issue', a magazine sold by homeless people. The Big Issue has proved highly successful, and has sparked a number of similar schemes in various cities throughout the world. One of them is the Czech Republic, which recently celebrated the anniversary of Patron magazine, also known as Novy Prostor. This counter-culture magazine is unique because it's run as a non-profit organization intent on providing an income to the unemployed and homeless. brings this report:

The long-standing and complicated dispute over the Czech Republic's most popular commercial television station, TV Nova, saw a landmark decision on Thursday: the High Court in Prague ruled in favour of TV Nova's controversial and enigmatic general director, Vladimir Zelezny. reports: