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Fifteen years after the fall of communism, the Social Democrat leader and Prime Minister Stanislav Gross has shocked many Czechs by telling them to vote for Communist candidates in the second round of elections to the upper house of the Czech parliament, the Senate, this weekend. Following a poor showing by the Social Democrats, in many constituencies right-of-centre Civic Democratic candidates will be facing off against communists in the second round. Mr. Gross said his party's aim was to prevent the right-wing opposition Civic Democrats winning

With one of the lowest birth rates in the world, the Czech population is aging. Government measures aimed at making family life more attractive are not proving as effective as hoped and many experts warn that the decision by many people to put off starting a family or not to have children at all, could lead to major social and economic problems. But how much of a role does infertility play in this development?

Regional and Senate elections in the Czech Republic last week were an example of the democratic process at work, exactly 15 years after the fall of communism. Among those observing the elections were a group of a dozen or so Iraqi politicians invited to the Czech Republic ahead of their country's own elections in January. How did the Iraqis view the elections here, and could the Czech Republic provide a role model?

15 years ago, on November 9th 1989 the infamous Berlin Wall fell, bringing down a barrier that had held East Germans behind the Iron Curtain and the most potent symbol of divided Europe. The fall of the Wall was not just the end of the communist regime in East Germany but anticipated the political changes in the whole of Eastern and Central Europe.

Studying abroad has been increasingly popular ever since 1989, and now with EU membership bringing lower tuition fees, even more Czechs consider studying abroad. The International Fair for Languages, Education and Cultures, Expolingua offered the Prague public an overview of different international educational possibilities in terms of studying at university, language learning, cultural experience and working abroad.

One Czech rock group is marking the 15th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in a most unusual way: Prazsky Vyber, an extremely popular underground band in Czechoslovakia in the 1980s, are playing a special concert in Florida to express their support for the opposition in Cuba.

The weekend's elections to regional assemblies, the second since sweeping local government reforms were introduced four years ago, resulted in an overwhelming victory of the right-of-centre opposition Civic Democrats, the party founded by the current President Vaclav Klaus. They won in 12 out of 13 assemblies, across the country. The ruling Social Democrats came a humiliating third, lagging behind the largely unreconstructed Communists, who are celebrating their success. Pavla Horakova spoke to political scientist Vladimira Dvorakova and asked

The eastern German city of Cottbus last week organized its 14th Film Festival specializing on East European Cinema. Apart from the feature film competition and a display of successful movies from countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the festival annually focuses on cinematography of a particular country. This year it was Czech cinema that had the chance to present itself. My colleague Martin Mikule hopped across the border to Germany for the last couple of days of the festival. He's now with me in the studio, so Martin, tell us what was it

If products bear such labels as Parma ham, Emmenthal cheese, Cognac or Champagne, you know you're buying the real thing, produced only in one specific area of Europe under strict supervision. Soon a similar label could be attached to one very special Czech product: Czech brewers have filed a request with the European Commission to have the "Czech Beer" brand registered, ruling out the possibility of watery imitations flooding the market.

After 140 years of compulsory military service in this part of the world, the Czech Army is going fully professional from the beginning of January. The Senate approved the move on Thursday, and it now only needs the president's signature to become law. The last ever group of conscripts is due home just in time for Christmas. But after such a long tradition of military service, how do Czechs feel about the change? We asked some people on the streets of Prague.