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On Sunday, Bedrich Smetana's cycle of symphonic poems entitled "My Country" opened the 57th annual Prague Spring international music festival. The Prague Spring is the most significant musical event of the year in the Czech Republic, and brings together artists from around the world. Alena Skodova has more:

It is a well-known fact that the Czech population is ageing. Within 30 years, about one third of the population is expected to be over 60. More and more young couples are having their first child after 30 and families with more than two children are less and less common. One reason is that unlike the generation of their parents living under Communism, young people now are free to enjoy a wider range of opportunities - travelling, studying, pursuing a career - and as a result they're putting off starting a family. And having children in the Czech

Under Czech law, politicians have to declare their earnings and gifts every year. Some of them, including government ministers, still have not submitted their property declarations for the year 2000, even though the deadline was June last year. This year's deadline is fast approaching - has the prospect of next month's general elections led politicians to put their affairs in order?

Benjamin Kuras is a Czech author and broadcaster who has lived in England for almost 25 years. Mr Kuras has written over a dozen plays and several books, such as As Golems Go and Is There Life on Marx?. In recent years he has penned polemical articles for several newspapers and magazines here in the Czech Republic. On Tuesday I caught up with Benjamin Kuras after a public discussion in Prague - at which he was quizzed on a wide variety of political questions - and asked him if his articles tackled political issues.

The 8th International Book Fair opened at Prague's Vystaviste exhibition grounds on Thursday, giving close to 500 exhibitors from 28 countries the chance to present their latest publications. Dita Asiedu was at the opening.

The private library of Prague's most acclaimed literary son - Franz Kafka - returned to his home town this week, 78 years after his death. Nearly 1,000 volumes - including first editions and books which Kafka gave to his friends - were presented to Prague's Franz Kafka Society, as a gift from the German car manufacturer Porsche. Rob Cameron has more on this unique literary legacy.

For eighteen years now, May 9th has been celebrated as "Europe Day" in countries of the European Union. In 1950, against the background of the instability and the need to rebuild a shattered Europe, the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman presented a declaration calling on France, Germany and other European countries to pool together their coal and steel production. The event is considered to have been the first step taken towards the creation of what is now the European Union. The Czech Republic joined the annual celebration of the diversity

On May 5th, 1945, Czechoslovak Radio issued a call for people to rise up against the Nazi occupiers. The fiercest fighting took place in Prague, where 1,700 Czechs lost their lives in the struggle for freedom. Rob Cameron and Olga Szantova look back at the liberation of Prague.

On Monday activists from the environmental group Greenpeace staged a dramatic protest at the Spolana chemical works in Neratovice on the river Labe or Elbe, north of Prague. Greenpeace say the plant has contaminated the river's flood plain, and that there would be a disaster if a flood occurred. Two dozen activists from six countries took part in the protest.

The general elections which take place in the middle of next month will make history, as it is the first time that Czechs living abroad will be able to vote. For many years there were calls for Czechs living overseas to be given the right to participate in elections from abroad. However, now that legislation has finally been passed giving them this opportunity, only a tiny number have registered.