Current Affairs | All stories

The end of President Havel's term is swiftly approaching and the question who will succeed him continues to make headlines. So far, there are eight candidates, among them the country's ombudsman Otakar Motejl, Senate chairman Petr Pithart and opposition Civic Democrat leader Vaclav Klaus, described by his supporters as the father of economic transformation. But realistically Mr Klaus has little chance of being elected under the current parliamentary system, and the party is now calling openly for the president to be elected directly - a U-turn

The Czech Press Photo is a competition for the best photographs of the year taken by Czech and Slovak photographers. On Monday, the 8-member international jury announced the results of this year's event at Prague City Hall, where journalists were shown the winning photos. Alena Skodova was there and has this report:

Over forty world opinion formers were in Prague for the weekend, on the invitation of President Vaclav Havel, for the sixth Forum 2000 conference. They were discussing one of the pressing problems of our time - the economic gap between North and South - and many other problems relating to globalisation.

The Czech Republic's hopes of becoming a full member of the European Union came closer to reality at the weekend, after the people of Ireland said a resounding "Yes" to the Nice Treaty, seen as crucial to plans to expand the EU in 2004. Almost 63 percent said "Yes" this time around - as opposed to the 54 percent who said "No" in the first referendum last year. The result was much better than expected, ending weeks of nervous anticipation among the EU and the candidate countries. Stefan Auer is a Slovak politics lecturer teaching at University College Dublin's

Most Czechs are still coming to terms with the havoc that this year's floods wrought on their family finances. But the real cost of the floods is way beyond the assessed damage. Czech insurance companies have announced that in the wake of this year's devastating floods they plan to increase insurance rates on property by 15 to 30 % .

The Czech Republic is well on its way to EU membership. Out of the 30 chapters of legislation it needs to close before the end of the year, only five remain open. Furthermore, at the beginning of the month, an EU progress report on the country was better than ever before. So it appears that little can stop the Czech Republic from being among the first batch of candidate countries to join in 2004. There are two things, however, that could throw a spanner in the works - this weekend's Irish referendum on the Nice Treaty, and the lack of a Czech law

A new fountain was unveiled on the Kinsky Square in the Prague 5 district on Thursday evening. Crowds of people from the Smichov district came to see the unveiling ceremony, curious about the new look of their neighbourhood. Alena Skodova was there, too, and has this report:

While a decade ago thousands of young Americans came to spend some time in Prague after graduating from university - and many ended up staying - nowadays a growing number of Americans come to Prague to study while they are still at university. Since 1998, New York University has had a school in the Czech capital, and students usually stay for three or four months. I recently visited NYU in Prague, where I asked associate director Thea Favaloro how much students could learn about the Czech Republic in such a short period.

Terezin - the place that became infamous as a Jewish ghetto in the Second World War - is another historic Czech town that experienced this year's disastrous floods. Among the cultural treasures of Terezin that were severly damaged was Mecca, the Middle European Colony for Contemporary Arts. Although a relative newcomer to the town's cultural scene, Mecca nonetheless plays a very important role in revilitasing Terezin's culture.

Preparations for the November NATO summit in Prague are in full swing, with security issues receiving top priority. This week Czech and US military forces are conducting a military exercise aimed at protecting the skies over the Czech capital.