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The State Veterinary Institute announced Friday that over 500 food processing plants were shut down in the Czech Republic at the end of 2003. The closures of the plants were due to food safety and hygiene standards failing to meet European Union regulations.

As the Czech Republic gears up for EU accession, there has been much discussion in the media regarding the structural funds the country hopes to receive from the European Union. As a result, many people might be surprised to learn that the Czech Republic is also itself an active donor of foreign aid for less developed countries. This week, the Czech Association for International Affairs held a public discussion in Prague on whether this development aid has been effective.

The Czech Republic has been hit by extremely cold weather in the last week or so. Some roads have been blocked by snow, border crossings closed and flights have been delayed at Prague airport. One thing we haven't seen here in Prague is something which used to happen often: the Vltava River has not frozen over. That change is largely due to the building of a series of weirs and dams downstream of the capital in the 1950s. The last time it was possible to walk, or skate, across the Vltava was in 1978, though the ice was not so thick then, and it

Why are Czechs having fewer children? What has happened to traditional family values? And can anything be done to reverse this trend? Similarly as in many other European states the population of the Czech Republic is decreasing, people are aging and not enough children are being born. By 2030 the number of pensioners will have doubled. In 50 years time there could be 2 million less Czechs and the biggest age group will be people in their 60s and 70s. Unless -that is -the government can find a way to encourage young people to have children.

Nobody will be surprised to hear that street lighting in Prague runs on electricity. But for how long? Because many consider old-fashioned gas lighting to be much more romantic, the municipality of Prague has decided to bring back gas lamps to some parts of the Old Town to recreate the atmosphere of the historic city.

The verdict of a regional court which gave three youths found guilty of a brutal racist attack against a Romany couple a three year suspended sentence has evoked outrage among the Romany minority. They have petitioned the government and the justice ministry, demanding a fair and just trial. Deputy Prime Minister Petr Mares, who also professed to have been shocked by the benevolent sentences, has asked the justice minister for an explanation. We asked the government's human rights commissioner Jan Jarab how he perceived the verdict of the Jesenik

Just under a decade ago, the Czech television station TV Nova became the first commercial TV station in the former Eastern Bloc. It has since become the most successful commercial television station in Central Europe, although it also been embroiled in a quite a few controversies along the way. This year, the station is planning a number of events to mark its tenth anniversary. Earlier this week, it held a glitzy press reception in Prague to kick-start its celebrations. Radio Prague was there.

The Czech Republic is currently experiencing proper winter weather - much to the delight of winter sports lovers. But just like every year snow and freezing temperatures have been causing severe problems throughout the country.

The National Security Council on Tuesday approved a new, much stricter airport protection system which includes the possibility of armed guards on board planes. Daniela Lazarova has been following the story and joins me in the studio now. Daniela is this move in response to US demands for there to be armed guards aboard all planes flying to the Unites States?

2004 is a year of Czech musical jubilees. It's a hundred years since the death of the greatest of all Czech composers, Antonin Dvorak, a hundred-and-fifty years since the birth of Leos Janacek, composer of Taras Bulba and The Cunning Little Vixen; and the great 19th century symbol of the national revival in Czech music, Bedrich Smetana, was born a hundred-and-eighty years ago. By an uncanny coincidence there are at least a dozen other major Czech musical anniversaries that you can add to the list. So it's hardly surprising that this year has been