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A new amendment to the Czech Republic's Labour Code on sexual harassment was passed on Wednesday, when the Chamber of Deputies overruled the Senate's rejection of the bill. The amendment clarifies what sexual harassment is, and brings Czech law into line with that of the European Union. I discussed the issue with Alena Kralikova of the Gender Studies NGO in Prague.

Last week we reported that possibly thousands of Czechs, former illegal employees of the US retailer Wal-Mart, can sue their former employer for compensation. Former Wal-Mart's cleaning staff from many countries are joining a class action lawsuit against the retailer, claiming they were denied basic rights and labour protection.

Ceska Televize produced a new television series based on author Miloslav Svandrlik's book Cerni Baroni, or Black Barons, a book recognized in every household in the Czech Republic as well as Slovakia. Mr Svandrlik looks at the life and daily interaction of the technical assistance battalion, or the PTP, in a comedic light. He himself spent two years in the battalion. The PTP were a group of men relegated to physical labour by the communists and often given very dangerous jobs. The renowned director of the TV series, Juraj Herz, said that had he

Two Czech men, caught for smuggling drugs under the unforgiving drug laws of Thailand, arrived at the Prague airport on Tuesday. The Czech Justice Ministry had sent an application for their transfer last June. But what does this mean for the prisoners to be back in the Czech Republic?

There are just over two weeks to go before Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla has to send a letter to European Commission President Romano Prodi saying who should become the Czech Republic's first EU Commissioner. However the prime minister has his work cut out for him, due to the complex set of criteria involved.

The case of the pensioner arrested on suspicion of causing bomb attacks across the country came to a premature end on Sunday when he died in hospital. The 68-year-old Prague man, named only as Vladimir S, apparently died of wounds inflicted after he tried to kill himself during his arrest in late December.

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.

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.