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On Thursday night a gala performance in honour of President Vaclav Havel took place at the National Theatre in Prague. The event was organised by First Lady Dagmar Havlova as a goodbye tribute to the outgoing president, who leaves office on Sunday, February 2.

Prague's airport - officially called Ruzyne Airport - has experienced huge growth in the past decade, and its expansion is symbolic of the Czech Republic's increasing economic and political significance in Europe. And with entry into the European Union the airport will only get bigger...

Vaclav Havel paid a one-day visit to Bratislava on Wednesday, his last foreign engagement as president of the Czech Republic. The trip was certainly steeped in significance - Slovakia was Mr Havel's first destination after he was elected Czech president in January 1993, and - as he put it - Wednesday's visit had "closed the circle." Rob Cameron travelled with President Havel to Bratislava, and has this report.

It has been slated as the first outstanding cultural event of 2003 - the first public performance in Prague by Argentinean tenor José Cura. The so-called 'Fourth Tenor', who is often compared to Carerras, Domingo, and Pavarotti, will perform arias by great Italian composers at Prague's Municipal House this coming Friday - and Czechs are anticipating a wonderful concert.

Czech senators deprived their colleague, Vladimir Zelezny, of parliamentary immunity last Thursday, making it possible for the police to investigate him on fraud charges. The Zelezny case has highlighted flaws in the Czech immunity law, which gives members of parliament stronger protection from prosecution than that enjoyed by legislators in other European countries. The Czech government wants to change the situation.

I'm sure many of you have seen it - the Australian anti-smoking TV advertisement that has created enormous controversy and been shown on TV stations around the world. Czech public television, which recently carried the story in its prime time news programme, is now trying to acquire the right to run this TV ad on a regular basis. Daniela Lazarova has the story:

The Czech government has reinforced Czech anti-chemical warfare forces based in Kuwait in order to support possible US-led military action against Iraq, should they get a go-ahead from the United Nations Security Council. In the meantime Czech scientists developed several new antidotes to treat soldiers and civilians in case of a chemical attack.

As the possibility of war in Iraq increases Europe has become increasingly divided over the use of force. Over the weekend a couple hundred people marched through the streets of Prague to protest the use of force in Iraq and delivered a letter to the US ambassador in Prague.

As in many other countries around the world, Holocaust Remembrance Day was yesterday commemorated in the Czech Republic. In recent years the day has been marked in a different way here, where it is now characterised by special cooperation between the Jewish and Roman communities.

Friday saw the international press premiere in Prague of an extraordinary film. "Somewhere Better", a co-production between Czech Television and the BBC, looks at one of the many Czech Romany families that have applied for asylum in Britain. This is a much-discussed theme, but the film by documentary-maker Mira Erdevicki takes an unusual path, and is special in more ways than one. David Vaughan was at the premiere.