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Pavlina Scasna has been playing football since she was a little girl, and is now about to realise a life-long dream by joining a club in the home of women's soccer, the United States. The move follows a year and a half in the German league, where Pavlina - who is 20 years old - was the top scorer. Pavlina Scasna comes from a football family: her brother Michal plays for Czech club Viktoria Zizkov and her father Zdenek is a well-known coach. She recalls how, when she was a football-crazy young girl, her father tried to persuade her to play a more

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the death of Alois Rasin, a key figure in the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 and also the country's first finance minister. He died three weeks after being shot by a young assassin in the centre of Prague - the first political assassination in the fledgling Czechoslovak state. Rob Cameron looks back at the life and premature death of Alois Rasin.

Czech farming has seen huge changes since the days of communism, when the majority of farmers were forced to work on collective farms. Now all that has changed, and more and more farmers are choosing to follow the international trend towards organic farming, partly in response to worries over food safety. Martin Hrobsky reports.

Next Friday, the third attempt to elect a new Czech president will take place. If that vote again fails to produce a new head of state, parliament will start a debate on changing the method of election to direct vote. So far the only official presidential candidate is former prime minister Vaclav Klaus who says he is also prepared to run if a popular vote is introduced. Radio Prague's Pavla Horakova spoke to Vaclav Klaus and she began by asking him whether changing the method of electing a president would be the best solution.

As part of the worldwide protests against a possible war on Iraq, two antiwar protests occurred in Prague on Saturday. One was organised by the student group Initiative Against War and took place on Jan Palach Square, while the other was staged by the Communist Party on Wenceslas Square. Only around 1,500 people participated in these protests, which is relatively low when compared to the turnout for other antiwar demonstrations around the world this weekend.

He was an extraordinary figure in recent Czech history: famous explorer Jiri Hanzelka, who, along with Miroslav Zikmund, organised extensive expeditions to regions around the world including Africa, Latin America, Oceania and Asia. Jiri Hanzelka died over the weekend at the age of 82, bringing an end to a unique partnership, and leaving behind a unique body of information: countless articles, photographs, and other valuable ethnographic material.

At the same time demonstrations were taking place on Saturday, the Czech and Slovak defence ministers signed an agreement on a joint Czech-Slovak anti-chemical unit which will start operating in Kuwait on March 1.

A Czech municipal court ruled on Thursday that suspected IRA member Michael Dickson should be extradited to Germany to face charges linked to a 1996 grenade attack on a British army barracks in the German town of Osnabrueck. Dickson, who denies any ties to the IRA and says he was in the Czech Republic as a tourist, has appealed to the country's High Court.

February 14th marks St. Valentine's Day around the world and the Czech Republic is no exception. Florists across the country are doing brisk business, while pubs and clubs are offering special Valentine's Day menus. Regarded as a western holiday, Valentine's Day was not celebrated during the days of Communism. Now, though, it's becoming increasingly popular - and of course lucrative for shops and businesses. But as we found out when we took to the streets of Prague, many Czechs are far from enthusiastic...

As in other parts of Central and Eastern Europe referendums will be held on European Union accession in the coming months. The Czech Republic is of course one of those countries, with a referendum scheduled for June. The government has been slowly working on an information campaign to educate the Czech public on the pros and cons of EU membership. Recently, organizers of the campaign have said their goal is to target older people and those living in the countryside. Compared to other candidate countries, support for joining the EU is quite low