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Now some good news for the Czech Republic's quest for EU membership. On Monday, Austria withdrew its opposition to the environment chapter necessary for EU expansion talks with the Czech Republic. Prague was forced to cancel EU accession talks on energy and the environment two weeks ago, due to Austria's boycott of both chapters over its opposition to the Temelin nuclear power plant. spoke to Daniel Kapp, the spokesman for the Austrian Environment Ministry, and asked him to give us the reason for this sudden change of heart from Vienna:

Saturday marked the International Day Against Violence Towards Women. On the same day, the Rosa Centre for Abused Women in Prague issued a statement that the Czech government is not doing enough to fight domestic violence towards women. has been following the story:

Leaders of the ruling Social Democrats met at the party's Prague headquarters this weekend after what was probably their worst month in power. The Social Democrats, who formed a minority cabinet in 1998 after inconclusive general elections, emerged from recent Senate and regional elections battered and bruised. They've been effectively marginalised in the upper house after losing eight seats, and did equally badly in elections for new regional parliaments: the governing party was defeated in all 13 regions being contested. You might expect such

Roasted chestnuts, mulled wine, rum punch and grog have hit the streets of downtown Prague, and that means one thing and one thing only: Christmas is coming and the Christmas markets are underway once again. Newcomers to Prague might be unaware that the Christmas spirit is taken very seriously by the locals. took to the streets to find out more:

A team of Czech and Egyptian archaeologists have uncovered a tomb near the windy sand dunes of Abu Sir, seventeen miles from the Egyptian capital Cairo. They claim the tomb, belonging to a 6th-dynasty nobleman named Inti, is over 4,300 years old, the latest in a long line of successes for world-renowned Czech Egyptology. has the report:

Nine trees were planted in Prague on Thursday as part of the Nine Gates festival of Jewish culture currently held in Prague. The mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert, was one of the dignitaries that took part in the ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the first transport of Czech Jews to the Terezin concentration camp during the Second World War. The trees were planted in front of the Trade Fair Palace, from where the first transport departed. reports:

The dictionary defines the word 'ambassador' as 'an official envoy of the highest rank accredited to a foreign government or sovereign'. The word is of Germanic origin: 'ambaht' being the Old High German word for 'service'. Well Prague's ambassador to Bulgaria, Mr Ondrej Havlin, seems to have done both the Czech government and their Bulgarian counterparts something of a disservice of late, at least if reports in the media are to believed. Mr Havlin arrived at Prague's imposing Cernin Palace on Friday for a chat with his boss. reports:

The Czech media claim that President Vaclav Havel has selected Zdenek Tuma as the new governor of the Czech National Bank. Will his choice spark another conflict between Havel and the leaders of the strongest political parties? tries to find the answer:

A festival of Jewish culture called 9 Gates is underway in Prague this week. Part of the festival is an exhibition which opened on Wednesday at the National Library in Prague's Klementinum. was there and brings back this report:

The District Court in the town of Trebic has reached a verdict in the case of 12 men who attacked a hamlet near the town of Trebic in South Moravia inhabited mostly by Romani families. But, as reports, the verdict will be wearily familiar to those following the prosecution of racist crimes in the Czech Republic.