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Earlier this week, two Czech long-distance swimmers, Petr Mihola and Richard Haan, attempted for the second time to swim the English Channel. Unfortunately, the attempt failed due to bad weather. But they're not the first Czechs to try - in fact five Czech swimmers - including two women - have already succeeded in making it from the coast of France to the white cliffs of Dover.

Thursday saw the opening of an exhibition in Ostrava called "the Roma in our City". Visitors to Ostrava Town Hall are given a introduction to the history and lifestyle of the Roma community in the city. Dita Asiedu spoke to the head of the mayor's office, Dr Zdenek Sladovnik, to find out more:

With less than a month in office, the newly appointed Czech Health Minister, Marie Souckova, is forced to tackle a problem that is driving doctors and nurses out of the country - low salaries. According to the Czech Chamber of Doctors, more and more hospitals are facing problems, and in order to cope with their staff leaving they're employing doctors and nurses from abroad.

The Czech currency has reached record levels over the past few weeks, which not only poses problems to Czech exporters, but it also means that everything is more expensive for foreign tourists arriving in the Czech Republic on holiday. So is the strong crown putting off foreign tourists?

The new Czech foreign minister, Cyril Svoboda, has held his first meeting with the Task Force set up to plan the November NATO summit in Prague. Memories of the violent clashes at the World Bank gathering in the city two years ago are still fresh, and the events of September 11th have added to the nervousness. The Czech government and Prague's City Hall are trying to make sure they will be prepared for all eventualities, including terrorist attack.

The Czech Republic is going through another heatwave this week and with temperatures in the low 30's many Czechs are reaching for refreshments such as ice-cream, salads, and their famous open sandwiches. What many fail to realise, however, is that all of these foods contain dairy products such as eggs and mayonnaise, which are often full of the Salmonella bacteria.

A huge illegal techno music festival known as Czechtek has now entered its 6th day near the village of Andelka in North Bohemia. Organisers kept the venue of this year's Czechtek festival secret until the very last moment, and thousands of young people from the Czech Republic and abroad started arriving at the site last Friday.

Over the past few days, some sixty members of the Roma minority have attempted to travel to Great Britain, just to be turned back at the Czech-German border. Whilst they all had return tickets and the necessary insurance, German border officials said that many failed to prove they had enough money for their stay.

Last year the head of Czech police, Jiri Kolar secretly set up two new departments at the Police Headquarters, whose main task is to investigate crimes committed by influential people. As the work of the departments gradually comes to light, some legal specialists are now voicing their opposition against what is dubbed the 'political police'.

A small exhibition opened last week at the National Museum in Prague featuring the work of Jan Kollar, an outstanding figure of the 19th century Slovak national revival. Jan Kollar had rich contacts with nationalists in the Czech lands at a time when both nations were part of the Austrian empire.