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Many of you will remember the story of the Palestinian living in Lebanon Ibrahim Zeid, who was forced to spend several months in the transit area of Prague's Ruzyne airport after he arrived without any documentation and was refused refugee status by the Czech authorities. Mr Zeid has now been granted political asylum in neighbouring Germany.

The presidential elections in the United States have been filling the Czech papers for weeks, with speculation over who has the greater chance of winning, and what the outcome might mean for the United States' relationship to the Czech Republic and to Europe in general. In this country opinion seems as deeply divided as in the US itself, and for Czechs this is one of the most closely observed foreign elections ever. Martin Mikule spoke to political analyst from Prague's Charles University Borivoj Hnizdo.

Each year, on All Soul's Day, Czechs flock the cemeteries lighting candles and leaving flowers on the graves of their loved ones. This year I set out to the cemetery...

Just as you cross the Czech Republic's border, you can see them everywhere. Counterfeit goods: from "label" shoes and clothes, to fake watches, to pirated CDs, being sold mostly at open-air markets, especially in the border regions of the country. Despite frequent police crackdowns, the Czech Republic still has a bad reputation with foreign producers, accused of not doing enough to protect their intellectual property. A gaffe by the Prime Minister's wife Sarka, who was spotted showing off a fake Louis Vuitton handbag, has added fire to the

When one of the proposed new EU Commissioners, Italy's Rocco Buttiglione, suggested that homosexuality was a sin and a woman's place was in the home, he caused so much outrage in the European Parliament that the incoming Commission chief, Jose Manuel Barroso, put off presenting the new team for parliamentary approval last week. Now the controversial Italian has withdrawn his candidacy, freeing Mr Barroso to make changes to his team. One person directly affected by all this is Pavel Telicka, the Czech Republic's outgoing EU Commissioner, who was

It was a big day for the EU on Friday: after two years of debate, the leaders of 25 EU member states met to sign the union's first ever Constitution - a document which is expected to transform the face of Europe. But, behind the fanfare, doubts lurked as to whether the Constitution would ever come into force. Daniela Lazarova has been following the story. Daniela how is the EU constitution perceived in the Czech Republic, which joined the EU in May of this year?

Thursday was a state holiday in the Czech Republic on which Czechs celebrated "independence day" - the 86th anniversary of the birth of Czechoslovakia.For twenty one Czechs the occasion was very special indeed. They received high state distinctions from President Klaus in a ceremony which was broadcast live on national television.

The first recorded name for Bohemia has its roots in the Celtic word 'Boiohaemum', meaning home of the Boii people, a Celtic tribe which settled in Central Europe centuries before the Slavic peoples arrived. Ahead of the Celtic New Year, Brian Kenety takes a look at efforts to celebrate and promote the Czech lands' ancient heritage.

The Czech Republic needs to make some very big changes if it is going to be a successful country in the future. So says a study out this week with the grand title of Zprava o stavu zeme, or Report on the State of the Country. It was commissioned by former prime minister Vladimir Spidla and written by a team of top Czech economists and sociologists.

A former army barracks on Prague's Namesti Republiky square is going to be the site of another shopping and office complex in the centre of the city. But the project has been delayed by the discovery there of major archeological treasures - in fact it is the biggest archeological dig in the country's history.