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Two weeks ago the Czech racing driver Tomas Enge must have been feeling on top of the world, when he achieved the greatest success of his career by winning the Formula 3000 world championship. Now, however, Mr Enge has been stripped of his title, and his motor racing career may never recover. The reason - a drug test which revealed the prescence of cannabis in his blood.

After 12 years as president, Vaclav Havel's final term ends in January. This week the race to succeed Mr Havel has grown more intense, with Monday the deadline for the registration of candidates to become the Social Democrats' candidate for president. In a move which even Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla has described as "very unusual", his party are holding a public vote to choose their candidate.

It's just over two months to go before a crucial date on the calendar of European Union enlargement - December 12th, when leaders of the EU and the 13 candidate countries gather in the Danish capital Copenhagen. By that date up to ten candidates - including the Czech Republic - are expected to have closed all thirty chapters of legislation required for accession to the EU. The Czechs still have five chapters to go - one of them being agriculture. Daniela Lazarova spoke to the country's chief EU negotiator Pavel Telicka, and began by asking him

Just a few hours after the polling stations closed in June this year, the clapper of the famous Zikmund bell at Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral cracked and the bell fell silent. According to legend, the silencing of the Zikmund bell is an omen of national tragedy. Those who believe the legend first connected the omen to the outcome of the June elections, but looking back the silencing of the church bell could be seen as a forewarning of the disastrous floods, which hit the Czech Republic in August. Anyway, the clapper is now back in place and Zikmund

September 30th - this Monday, 52 years after it came into existence, the Czech section of Radio Free Europe shall broadcast for the very last time. Broadcasting began May 1st 1951...

Although the government was prepared to put a limit on any new Czech military missions abroad as a result of the recent floods significantly burdening the state budget, a new military unit is now expected to be deployed in Afghanistan in February next year.

This October 2nd will see the 28th annual Ekofilm film festival get underway here in the Czech Republic, a festival devoted entirely to the topic of the environment as well as natural and cultural heritage.

This Saturday, September 28th, is designated as the Day of Czech Statehood - a Czech national holiday on which the nation commemorates St. Wenceslas, the country's chief patron saint. But who was St. Wenceslas and why are Czechs still celebrating his life, over a thousand years after his death? Dita Asiedu put that question to historian Jan Rychlik:

Next week, Prague will become a meeting place for rescuers and firefighters in an event called “ Firefighters' Week in Prague". According to the organizers, it will be a unique event - “the world will be meeting in Prague" one of them said. Alena Skodova has the details:

Less than three months into its term in office, the Czech government has had to announce a series of unpopular measures. Due to the enormous cost of the recent floods it has had to go back on its promise to increase civil servants' wages by an average 13 %. Doctors, nurses, policemen, and firefighters are expected to get a 7 % wage increase at the most. Teachers can look forward to a pay rise that is two percent higher than that. Daniela Lazarova has the story: