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TV Nova claimed on Tuesday that Serbia and Montenegro is planning to complain to the Czech foreign ministry after the former commander of Albanian rebels in Kosovo was allowed to visit the Czech city of Ostrava. Former rebel commander Agim Ceku is now in charge of the Kosovo Protection Corps, and was in Ostrava to inspect a group of former KLA rebels being retrained as firemen under a UN-sponsored scheme. Rob Cameron reports.

This month, Czechs will be commemorating Karel Kryl at several venues in Prague as this year marks the tenth anniversary of his death and sixtieth anniversary of his birth. As part of the Year of Czech Music, several concerts and exhibitions focus on the life of the singer and protest-song writer who became an icon in 1960s folk music through his tireless struggle for the freedom of expression. Dita Asiedu has more:

A vocational school in the East Bohemian town of Svitavy is in mourning today after a 60-year-old teacher was stabbed to death by one of his students. The attack took place in the middle of a lesson, and was apparently unprovoked. The 16-year-old student has been taken into custody, and faces a prison sentence for murder. Rob Cameron has more on this shocking story.

The minister of culture on the Iraqi Governing Council, Mufid al-Jazairi, is a name familiar to many Czechs. Mr al-Jazairi, who is a Kurd and a member of the Iraqi Communist Party, studied journalism in Prague, married a Czech woman and learned to speak the language well. Taking time out from his busy schedule, the Iraqi culture minister returned to Prague recently, where he spoke about the connection he perceives between culture and democracy.

Several infants had to be evacuated from the surgical ward of Prague's Motol hospital on Monday afternoon, after a cracked water pipe raised the floor by half a metre. Motol hospital is the largest in the Czech Republic and plays a pivotal role in the country's healthcare service. Unfortunately, such incidents are not a rare occurrence, due to the poor state of the building.

In 2004, the Czech Republic commemorates as many as 60 anniversaries of important composers, musicians and music organisations. That's why this year 2004 has been designated as the Year of Czech Music and will be marked with concerts, exhibitions, and discussions around the country. One of the many anniversaries falls on Tuesday, March 2. It is the 180th anniversary of one of the most important Czech composers of the Romantic era, Bedrich Smetana.

Police in Germany arrested six people on Saturday accused of being part of a people-smuggling gang. Two of the six were Czech citizens. The gang were arrested after 26 Chinese illegal migrants were smuggled into Germany from the Czech Republic - part of the growing trade in human lives in which Czech criminals are becoming increasingly involved.

When Caryl Churchill's Top Girls was first performed in Britain in the early 1980s, it caused quite a stir. Written when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of Britain, the play raised many uncomfortable questions about where the feminist movement was heading at the time, and how women were adapting to their changing role in society. Now, over 20 years later, the play is being staged for the first time in the Czech Republic. Caryl Churchill herself was in the country at the weekend to mark the occasion.

Czech forwarding firms and customs agents on Friday stopped clearing goods at eight of the county's busiest border crossings. The move comes in protest of the government's reluctance to discuss compensation for companies that will have to sack up to 1,500 employees after Czech accession to the EU.

The Chamber of Deputies' decision on Wednesday to send Czech military personnel to Afghanistan is the first time that Czech soldiers have been actively deployed in a combat zone since the 2nd World War. Czech Special Forces will be sending more than 100 troops to aid in the US-led operation "Enduring Freedom".