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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.

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.

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.

With the recent violent clashes over social welfare reforms, the Roma villages of rural Slovakia have hit the headlines with images of poverty and squalor, but this is only one side of the story. These settlements are also the cultural heartland of Roma throughout Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and also the only place where their traditional musical culture survives. Many Czech Roma have roots in these rural communities, which provide the musical inspiration for such well-known Czech Romany singers as Vera Bila and Ida Kelarova. In this Sunday's

Although the Czech Republic is one of the most atheist and secular societies in Europe, it is quite well represented in the higher echelons of the Catholic Church. Besides Czech prelate Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, the Jesuit scholar Tomas Spidlik has also been ordained a cardinal, which means that two current members of the sacred college of Rome hail from the Czech Republic. This week, Cardinal Spidlik paid a visit to his homeland for the first time since being ordained in October last year.

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".

After the original candidate dropped out, the government has approved diplomat Pavel Telicka as the Czech Republic's first ever European Commissioner. While finding a suitable candidate for that post proved to be a difficult task, there seem to be plenty of contenders for the 24 Czech seats in the European Parliament.

Until now the importation of foreign waste for disposal to the Czech Republic has been strictly banned - though there was an appeal to change the law on waste disposal before. In 1999 it was MP Jiri Drda, of the centre-right Civic Democrats, who put forward a proposal in Parliament recommending the Czech Republic make an exception in the import of waste, a proposal that was overwhelmingly voted down. The result was not entirely a surprise. At the time Mr Drda was not only a member of Parliament - he was also the chairman of the local incineration

After the surprise resignation of the man chosen to be the Czech Republic's first ever European Commissioner, Milos Kuzvart, the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, insisted that the Czech government find a suitable replacement by Wednesday at the latest. At 11 o'clock on Monday night the government announced that it had chosen Pavel Telicka, an experienced diplomat who was the Czech Republic's chief negotiator during the country's EU accession talks.