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It should have been a relaxing pre-Christmas Saturday spent seeing the sights and sounds of Prague's Old Town Square, hosting its traditional Christmas market. But for some it almost ended in tragedy. Tourists and local visitors were shocked at around 11 am, when a sudden gust of 100 kilometre winds hit the pride of the square, a 30-metre tall Christmas tree, snapping it at its base and sending it crashing to the ground.

The smallest party of the Czech coalition government -the right wing Freedom Union-DEU survived a minor earthquake at its party conference over the weekend. After failing to push through his proposal to elect new party leadership, the leader of the small right wing platform DEU Ratibor Majzlik stormed out of the party conference announcing the end of this political alliance.

A small Nepalese community living in Prague hosted an event last Thursday. Czech guests savored the spices of Nepalese food and enjoyed the spectacle and vibrant colours of Nepalese Dance. This informative gathering was intended as a starting point for a possible Czech - Nepalese friendship organization.

People in the Czech Republic love to walk. Anywhere and anytime. Hiking and walking has a very long tradition. The nationwide organization of walkers decided more than a hundred years ago to create a system of marked trails, which now cover the whole of the Czech Republic.

Most democratic systems of government have checks and balances in place to ensure that public officials avoid any conflict of interest while fulfilling their duties. After all, if the lawmakers don't obey the law, then who does? One precautionary measure is that government representatives are obliged to declare their income and property interests on a regular basis. This is common practice in many democratic countries and the Czech Republic is no different. This week, however, a group of senators led by Martin Mejstrik published a list of public

Prior the fall of communism the border separating socialist Czechoslovakia from the capitalist West was notoriously well-guarded, creating a virtual no-man's land. Few were able to cross or even to enter. Paradoxically, the strict precautions ended up having an unexpectedly positive effect: nature in this area remained practically untouched to this day, a true rarity in the centre of Europe. To ensure the area's continued preservation, leading environmental organisations launched a project aimed at protecting the border region. The groups hope

Throughout its history the Czech Republic has been renowned for having an outstanding level of education. This small country in the heart of Europe has produced many great intellectuals, writers, scientists and creative engineers. Even so, the famous Czech author Ivan Klima noted in his novel "the Spirit of Prague" that nowhere in the world where the literacy rate is almost 100% is education so underrated. But with today's financial realities, do Czechs have more reason to look at their university education with such disdain?

At Monday's meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels, the Czech Republic offered to send a special unit to Afghanistan to join the International Security Assistance Force and the US-led operation Enduring Freedom. The offer is expected to be approved by the cabinet by the end of the year, to be then submitted to both houses of parliament in January.

Towns and cities around the country have been dreading the process of transforming the Czech Army. They expect major losses as dozens of army bases are to be abandoned and hundreds of civilian employees will be laid off. But one town in Moravia has something to look forward to. On Monday, the Army began restructuring its command centres and moved the Czech Armed Forces' Operational Headquarters and some 450 new inhabitants to the town of Olomouc.

Every year the Czech government looses approximately 3 billion crowns through the sale of unlicensed cigarettes and alcohol. Most of it is sold at outdoor stalls, predominantly by Vietnamese market traders. Despite the fact that the cartons of cigarettes are obviously counterfeit, and there have even been cases of buyers coming home to find their cartons stuffed with cotton wool and nails -the lower price of smuggled cigarettes continues to ensure steady sales. Inspections and police raids have proved ineffective in the long run -since no matter