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If there's one theme dominating this election campaign, it's summed up by that rather vague term "defending national interests". Amid a new row over the post-war expulsion of Czechoslovakia's ethnic Germans, all the parties are trying to prove that they're better at "defending national interests" than anyone else. All three major parties - all except the Communists - have tramped up and down a hill called Rip, a hill deeply connected with Czech mythology, to either launch, or breathe life into lacklustre election campaigns. Those politicians

The bee population is dwindling in many parts of the CR. Agricultural pesticides are likely to be the main cause - several bee colonies died out recently in Southern Moravia and a bee-keeper in the Pardubice region lost more than 13 million bees over the past weekend. Vladimir Tax reports:

The Czech lower house has made a move towards a complete ban on tobacco advertising. In a surprise vote on Friday, left-of-centre political parties approved a bill which would see all tobacco ads disappear as of 2004. Vladimir Tax has the details.

On the final day of an exhibition of contemporary textile design and fashion from Britain called Fabric of Fashion, on Sunday the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague organized a creative workshop, where mainly young participants gathered to design and create new models for themselves. Alena Skodova was there and has this report:

Czech firms are increasingly said to be engaging in a bitter struggle for confidential information. Planting bugs in a rival firm's office is reportedly becoming a widespread practice - at least according to the firms who specialize in finding the bugs. But somewhat amazing is the fact that the law does not consider planting bugs in itself to be a criminal offence. It's only against the law if the information is misused. Vaclav Pinkava is an IT manager in Prague.

The Old Town Hall in the centre of Prague is one of the city's main tourist attractions and a frequent venue for all kinds of different exhibitions. Currently underway is one which depicts the development of the Czech capital throughout its 1000 year-old history. Alena Skodova reports:

Wednesday's uncompromising resolution by the Czech parliament on the post-war Benes decrees - which sanctioned the expulsion of ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia after 1945 - immediately provoked an angry reaction from neighbouring Austria. Peter Westenthaler, parliamentary leader for Austria's right-wing Freedom Party, repeated his party's threat that it would not allow the Czech Republic into the European Union with the decrees, saying the issue was "as clear as a bell" for him and his colleagues. But the Freedom Party shares power with the

Will the European Union attempt to force the Czech Republic's hand over the delicate issue of the ethnic Germans expelled after World War Two? Some Austrian, German and Hungarian politicians are calling for the controversial decrees of the post war Czechoslovak President Edvard Benes, that formed the legal basis for the expulsions, to be revoked. Following months of uncertainty and conflicting signals from members of the European Commission and the European Parliament an increasing number of Czech politicians feel that the time has come for the

As you may know, the Prague Writers' Festival is currently in full flow. In terms of commercial success at least, the biggest name at the festival is undoubtedly the American author Elmore Leonard, whose first novel was published almost 50 years ago. He became a huge success in the 1980s and 90s when several of his novels were made into highly popular films, such as 'Get Shorty' and 'Jackie Brown', which was based on his novel 'Rum Punch'. From a young age Elmore Leonard has had the nickname "Dutch" - Ian Willoughby asked him why.

Last week the government approved the setting up of pre-school classes for children in areas with large Roma populations. The move is a bid to eradicate the huge gap in education between the Roma and majority Czech society. But as Rob Cameron reports now, not everyone believes it will have any great effect.