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The North Bohemian city of Usti nad Labem has always been known for its chemical industry. But historians from the local museum seem to have turned their back on chemistry - they have decided to celebrate the year 2004 as 'The Year of the Gnome". And they have a good reason for it. Alena Skodova reports:

The new centre-left coalition government headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla narrowly won a vote of confidence on Wednesday in its first major test. All 101 deputies from the three parties in the coalition - Spidla's Social Democrats and the smaller centrist Christian Democrats and right-of-centre Freedom Union - voted in favour. In a predictably tight vote ninety-eight opposition MPs in the 200- seat parliament voted against. Pavla Horakova was there and talked to MPs before the vote.

The International Organisation for Migration, the IOM, is supporting projects in the Czech Republic and Ukraine that are geared towards helping elderly members of minority groups who survived the Nazi atrocities of WWII. So what does such assistance involve? Dita Asiedu has more:

Since 1995, Miroslav Bobek, his colleague Frantisek Pojar and several other Czech naturalists have been carrying out projects of tracing storks and mapping out routes they fly to find a suitable place to spend the winter. Their journeys can be followed on the Czech Radio website, where some time ago one could also see storks nesting and feeding their young. Last month, the Czech expedition spent three weeks searching for storks in the remote parts of Russia. Alena Skodova has the details:

The people of Hiroshima gathered on Tuesday to mark the 57th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb. The bomb killed 140,000 Japanese civilians, and turned the city into a blackened wasteland. Pictures of that wasteland show just a single building left standing, the famous "A-Bomb Dome", now the centrepiece of Hiroshima's Peace Park. But less well known is that one of the world's most famous buildings was the work of a Czech architect, who spent much of his life in Japan. Rob Cameron has more.

It isn't often that a 90-year-old photograph causes a sensation, especially when all it seems to depict is a large block of ice. But that is just what has happened in the last few days here in the Czech Republic. All the Czech newspapers carried a photo showing an iceberg, said to be that which sank the Titanic and 90 years ago left nearly 1,600 people dead. The photo is thought to be the only surviving picture of the iceberg and was taken by a Czech sailor. In fact, it came to light two years ago, when German journalist Henning Pfeifer, a

On Monday, the government approved a proposal banning virtually all tobacco advertising and sponsorship of events by tobacco firms in the Czech Republic. Earlier this year the lower house of parliament approved a similar law but only weeks later the legislation was defeated in the Senate. The new centre-left coalition has vowed to push the legislation through this time. Statistics say 19 percent of Czechs smoke on a regular basis and 13 percent occasionally. According to the World Health Organisation around 22,000 people die each year from smoking-related

After much debate and discussion, the new Czech coalition government of the Social Democrats, Christian Democrats and the Freedom Union finalised its policy statement over the weekend and approved it on Monday morning. The principles of the final version stay true to the Social Democrats' manifesto, focusing on the importance of the family, health care, and the increasing of state benefits. More from Dita Asiedu:

An international cycling relay called Bike+10 which is meant to promote cycling as an alternative to car traffic started in the Moravian city of Brno ten days ago. The relay passed through the towns of Olomouc, Hradec Kralove and Pardubice and on Saturday, a group of cyclists arrived in Prague. The organisers held meetings in the city explaining to the public that cycling can be a healthier and environmentally friendly alternative to cars. Pavla Horakova went to one of the meetings on Sunday and spoke there to Petr Kurfurst of the civic association

On Friday evening an officer working for the transport police at Prague's metro, paid with his life, after trying to protect passengers against a man who was throwing fire crackers to the rails and threatening people with knife. This unprecedented incident has sent shock-waves through the Czech Republic. Alena Skodova reports: