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There has been a new twist in the case of one of the counrty's largest financial institutions: Investicni a Postovni Banka, or IPB. Heavily indebted, IPB was sold to another large Czech bank, CSOB, in the middle of June just days after being pulled from the brink of collapse by the Central Bank. But Miroslav Kalousek, head of the parliamentary commission set up to investigate the case, has now filed criminal charges against the minister of finance over his role in the affair. explains why:

It's ten years since Czechoslovakia rejoined the IMF and the World Bank after forty years of communist rule. Since then, the Czech economy has undergone a drastic transformation from a centrally-planned economy to a free market. But what role did the two institutions play in this process? spoke to Ivan Pilip, who was Czech finance minister in the mid-1990s:

The new head of the International Monetary Fund, Horst Koehler, addressed journalists for the first time on Wednesday, as delegates began gathering for the annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank in Prague. Mr Koehler was speaking 10 years to the day since Czechoslovakia rejoined the two organisations after 40 years of communist rule, and it's also the first time the IMF and World Bank have gathered in the former Eastern Bloc. has more:

In more than 20 countries all around the world, including the Czech Republic, many people will have left their car at home today. So what does a car-free day look like in Prague? Radio Prague's reports:

The main square in the West Bohemian city of Plzen witnessed a rather unusual spectacle this week: a performance by a group of Shaolin monks from central China. The monks combine martial arts, Buddhist philosophy and traditional Chinese theatre, and over the next few weeks they'll be touring towns and cities across the Czech Republic. Radio Prague's Plzen correspondent, , watched the performance, and afterwards he spoke to one of the organisers of the tour, Georg Hartmann:

Vasuf Sabani is one of the most important drug bosses operating in Central Europe. For the last seven years he's been living in the Czech Republic under a false name--until last week that is, when he was finally arrested by the Czech police. has the story:

It's ten years now since Czechoslovakia rejoined the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, after 40 years of communism. The two institutions say their main goal is fighting poverty, and they've chosen their annual session in Prague to unveil their latest figures. They don't make pleasant reading: in 1998, 1 out of every 5 people in post-communist Europe lived under the poverty line--a decade ago the number was one in 50. Surprisingly, it's not elderly people who are most at risk, but children and families with young children. has the

If you want to donate blood in the Czech Republic, you will be asked to fill in a form stating whether you are homosexual or heterosexual. If you are gay, you might be turned down, as many transfusion stations refuse to take blood from homosexuals. Gay groups are outraged, while blood donor authorities say the rule is in line with the rest of Europe. has the story:

Austrian environmentalists opposed to the launch of the Czech Republic's Temelin nuclear power plant announced on Monday that they were halting their regular blockades of the Czech-Austrian border, in what they claimed was a bid to improve dialogue between the two countries. The announcement looks more like capitulation from Prague--both Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman and even environmentally-friendly President Vaclav Havel said they wouldn't be forced to the negotiating table by the blockades. So how much public sympathy is there in Austria