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An unprecedented trial has just begun here in the Czech Republic, with the young editor of a far-left magazine in the dock. Having called for socialist revolution in the magazine Pochoden, or Torch, 24-year-old David Pecha stands accused of "spreading intolerance and hatred leading to the suppression of basic rights and freedoms". The trial has led to a debate on free speech, with some saying Mr Pecha's case should never have come to trial.

The German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer paid a brief to the Czech Republic on Tuesday, for talks dominated by European integration. In the morning Mr Fischer attended a gathering of Czech ambassadors at the Foreign Ministry, the first ever German Foreign Minister to attend such an event.

Last week the Czech Republic's intelligence service BIS released a new report warning that the Russian mafia was still alive and well in the Czech Republic. According to the report illegal activities include everything from money laundering to human trafficking, to extortion to fraud. And, what's worse: gangs have become better organised and more inter-connected than in the past - making it increasingly difficult to crack down - and eventually root out - criminal activities at their source.

According to a law passed shortly after the fall of communism, all senior civil servants must undergo security screening to prove that they didn't collaborate with the former communist secret police. The plan which was to keep former agents out of the country's new democratic structures has shown itself to be far from foolproof however. Twelve years after its approval, the Czech Interior Ministry is plagued by unreliable screening certificates and admits that in a number of cases former communist agents may be operating in high posts.

A nation-wide civil servants' strike - including tax-revenue officers and other state employees - especially teachers - has become an almost one-hundred percent certainty for September 1st. The reason for the strike: to send a message to the government, currently hammering out complex public finance reforms, that more money is needed for end-of-the-year bonuses for state employees. They expect an additional six billion crowns to somehow be found in an already tight state budget.

A military band played outside the Czech Radio building on Thursday morning, as politicians lined up to lay wreaths at the plaque to those who lost their lives defending the station in August 1968. It's thirty-five years to the day since the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, a day of reflection and remembrance for the Czech people. Czechoslovak Radio played a particularly important role in the hours that followed the invasion, as besieged reporters broadcast desperate appeals for help to the outside world.

"From the Microphone to the Listeners" is the name of a new book that's just hit the shelves on the eighty-year history of Czech Radio. While providing a detailed description of the station's role in shaping the country from 1923-2003, the seven-hundred page publication also includes photographs, eye-witness accounts, and the development of radio technology. It also introduces the different departments and important personalities at Czech Radio. Eva Jesutova was one of the main initiators behind the book's production:

It's been a hot month of August in the Czech Republic's biggest national park in the Sumava Mountains - and that has little to do with the scorching heat of the summer. The park's management and environment activists are locked in a heated debate over the fate of some 1,000 trees that are infested with bark beetle

At least 20 people are known to have been killed in Tuesday's truck bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, and many more bodies are still buried in the rubble. Tuesday's suspected suicide bombing was the most devastating attack on a UN civilian complex in the organisation's 58-year history, and has left many UN personnel in Iraq - including a team of Czech officials - contemplating their future in the country. Rob Cameron reports.

The Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, arrives in Prague on Wednesday afternoon on a three-day visit, as part of a trip aimed at strengthening his country's ties with Europe. But it would be fair to say Japanese relations with the Czech Republic are already on a high level, with Japanese investment on the increase and Japanese tourists a common sight in Prague and castles near the city.