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The saga surrounding the arrest in Cuba of the Czech MP Ivan Pilip took a dramatic turn on Tuesday - a government statement carried by the state media described Mr Pilip and his colleague Jan Bubenik as "U.S. spies" and said they would be tried for "counter-revolutionary" plotting on behalf of U.S. interests. The statement has quashed hopes in Prague that the two men would merely be deported, and their relatives are now seriously worried about their future. has more.

A report published last week concluded that that most of the complaints against police behavior at the IMF/World Bank demonstrations in Prague last September were unsubstantiated. The Ministry of Interior's own report also reached the general conclusion that police brutality against protestors was virtually nil. The conclusions have been derided by many human rights organisations, as explains.

The 16th of January is one of the most significant dates in the modern history of the Czech people. Exactly thirty-two years ago, the young student Jan Palach walked to the top of Wenceslas Square and set himself on fire in protest at the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Palach died in hospital three days later, but the significance of his act lives on in the consciousness of the nation. has the story.

The arrest of Freedom Union MP Ivan Pilip in Cuba last week is the stuff of spy novels: Mr Pilip leaves Prague for a private trip to the United States. Days later he's picked up at his hotel by Cuban security police and taken to Havana for questioning. The Cuban chargé d'affaires is summoned to the Czech Foreign Ministry for an explanation. Rumours abound of clandestine meetings with members of the opposition. But one thing is certain, says commentator Vaclav Pinkava: Mr Pilip's Cuban adventure makes excellent publicity. spoke with Mr

A bronze statue of Vladimir Ilyic Lenin which once stood in the Eastern Bohemian town of Pardubice has received a brief respite from its dank confines. After the city council voted to auction off the statue, Lenin's wooden crates were pried open for TV cameras and a potential buyer. But Monday's auction turned out to be a short-lived affair, attended by a cluster of journalists and just one mystery bidder. was there and brings back this report.

The Czech MP Ivan Pilip was detained on Friday during a private visit to Cuba, apparently after meeting members of the Cuban opposition movement. Mr Pilip was detained along with his Czech travelling companion Jan Bubenik, and their arrest has sent minor shockwaves through the Czech political establishment, as explains:

After a series of minor incidents, the test operation of the controversial nuclear power station at Temelin will be halted this week and the plant will undergo thorough inspection. Although all the problems are unrelated to the plant's reactor, the Czech nuclear safety authority says Temelin cannot be operated under these circumstances. has the details.

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Jiri Hodac resigned as the head of Czech Television yesterday, after three weeks of turmoil at the country's public TV network. It seems Mr Hodac finally lost his resolve to carry on against overwhelming odds - the news of his resignation broke just hours before some 60,000 people gathered on Prague's Wenceslas Square to call for his resignation, and ahead of Friday's parliamentary session which would have decided his fate if he chose to stay on. This was the moment that Mr Hodac's resignation was announced on the evening news, relayed live to the crowd on Wenceslas Square. was there.

A new exhibition opened at the Czech Centre of the Pen Club in Prague, called Photo-Graphics 2001. As its title indicates, the exhibited works by Jan Trojak combine photography and graphic art. The highly coloured prints created with the help of computer technology defy traditional ideas about what constitutes art. But even the most sophisticated electronic technology means nothing unless the artist is able to stop in dismay in front of an ordinary thing, find poetry in it and translate this feeling to other people. What we can see on the prints are objects of everyday life as well as abstract landscapes but not in a way you'd normally expect. has the story.