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The UN Committee for Protection of children's rights has urged the Czech authorities to make a concerted effort to ensure that the international Covenant of Children's Rights be fully adhered to. In a report released several days ago the committee outlines several problem areas which the country needs to deal with before it joins the EU in 2004.

Two sets of presidential elections - two inconclusive results this past January to find a successor to Vaclav Havel who stepped down on Sunday. The country is currently without a president and it may take weeks before it becomes clear just when - and how - the Czech legislature will try to elect a new one.

The Czech Association for Consumer Protection has just marked its tenth anniversary; ten years of helping Czechs to enforce their rights in a market economy with which they had no prior experience whatsoever. Today the Association has a network of consumer counseling offices, an SOS hotline and is involved in consumer education in schools. Daniela Lazarova has the story:

Prague tram drivers called a one-day strike today to fight for wage equality with their bus driving counterparts. However, the strike has not gone as smoothly as planned and has even been marked by violence.

Members of the Castle Guard marched across the courtyard of Prague Castle at midnight on Sunday, carrying with them the flag of the Czech President. Among those watching the flag being lowered was the president himself - Vaclav Havel left the Castle for the last time on Sunday after 13 years in the post. The flag won't be raised again for weeks - maybe even months - as efforts continue to choose a successor. And with the Czech Republic left without a head of state, the president's powers have been divided between the country's senior officials.

This weekend marks the end of an era in modern Czech history. The presidential fanfare sounds this weekend for the last time for Vaclav Havel. President Havel's third term as head of state, first of Czechoslovakia, and since 1993 of the Czech Republic, ends on 2nd February, thirteen years after he was swept to Prague Castle in the euphoria of the Velvet Revolution of November 1989.

The current division within Europe over possible US military intervention against Iraq became more marked on Thursday with the publication of an open letter by eight European leaders showing support for the US. Contrasting Germany and France's growing opposition to the US stance on Iraq, the letter was signed by statesmen including Britain's Tony Blair, Spain's Jose Maria Aznar, and also Czech President Vaclav Havel. They called for 'unity' and 'cohesion' in a post-9/11 world, in the aims of maintaining world security. At stake: the need for Iraq

Outgoing Czech President Vaclav Havel on Thursday played host to his last official visitor, the Irish taoiseach, or prime minister, Bertie Aherne. Mr Aherne's visit came three months after Ireland voted Yes (at the second attempt) to the Nice Treaty, clearing the way for the Czech Republic and nine other countries to join the European Union. The Czechs are now facing a referendum of their own - the first vote of its kind in the country's history - on whether to accept the invitation to join the EU in May next year. Czech Radio's Vit Pohanka spoke

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.

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.