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One of the world's most prestigious classical music festivals - the Prague Spring - opened on Monday, with the traditional performance of "My Country" by the Czech composer Bedrich Smetana. Over the next three weeks, audiences will be treated to some of the finest classical music performed by some of the most talented musicians in the world. But this year, for the first time in the festival's 58-year history, rock music will be included in the repertoire. Rob Cameron reports.

Two months after an unknown assailant threatened to detonate a bomb in public in the town of Olomouc, in eastern Moravia, Czech authorities appear to have a similar case on their hands: an anonymous caller threatening to plant cyanide in patients' hospital food unless he receives 300 million crowns. Already this month two ampoules containing the deadly poison were uncovered at a Prague hospital, an indication the blackmailer wants his message not only taken seriously, but may be willing to carry out his threat.

At the weekend, the Czech government has proposed ways to reduce the growing deficit in public finances. One of the areas to be affected is the health insurance. However, the problems in the Czech health care system are not limited to money - it has been one of the most complex issues Czech governments since the fall of Communism have had to tackle. Tracy Burns spoke with Dr. Martin Jan Stransky, who studied medicine in the USA and runs a health care clinic in Prague, about the various drawbacks in Czech health care and how they can be

The Czech unemployment rate has fallen below ten per cent for the first time this year, but analysts predict that such good news is unlikely to continue. In the coming months unemployment is expected to rise again, and the huge difference between the jobless rates in the more and less prosperous parts of the Czech Republic remains a problem.

Representatives of the three ruling coalition parties have reached agreement on a reform package aimed at reducing the growing deficit in public financing. The proposed changes envisage a long awaited overhaul of the pension scheme from a continuously financed system to a savings based one, a tax reform and a slowing down of the wage growth in the public sector, among other things.

A jubilant Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla, the EU ambassador to Prague Ramiro Cibrian, as well as diplomatic representatives from the 15 current EU members and 10 candidate countries: all met on a podium at the bottom of Prague's Wenceslas Square last week to mark Europe Day, May 9th, a day that traditionally commemorates first steps towards a united Europe, put forward in 1950. Joining the prime minister and delegates in Prague: hundreds of curious Czechs, eager to explore representative stands from current - as well as future - EU countries.

This year, the public broadcaster Czech Radio celebrates its eightieth anniversary. Throughout history, its meaning and role have changed from a revolutionary invention to an everyday companion, from a source of entertainment to a trumpet calling on Czechs to fight invaders, from a mouthpiece of communist propaganda to the voice of democracy. Radio Prague has prepared a series of reports to illustrate the eighty-year history of Czech Radio, and from now you can hear them in our programme or find them on our website every Friday. In the first part,

Radio Prague's correspondent Jaromir Marek has just accompanied the Czech Defence Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik on a Middle East trip, and among the places he visited was the Czech Army's field hospital in the Iraqi city of Basra.

The communist regime in the Czech Republic has been over for more than 13 years. Its history is still a subject of study and discussion. One of the contributions to this discussion is a museum of communism which opened in Prague about a year ago, welcoming an average of 100 guests per day. Busts of Lenin, posters from the totalitarian era, magazine covers of publications promoting totalitarian ideology, a mock interrogation office with decrepit black furniture and a mock shop with only a few items, including tin cans of Hungarian soup with bacon

Welcome to a special programme to mark the 58th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, a national holiday in the Czech Republic. The anniversary has a special significance in Prague, because it was here that some of the last shots of the war in Europe were fired, long after most European cities had been freed. The liberation of Prague by the Red Army on the 9th May 1945 was preceded by three days of fierce fighting in the streets of the city, and over 3000 people lost their lives fighting for Prague's freedom. In the uprising, the radio