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With the New Year thousands of Czechs found themselves having to dig deeper into their pockets. Under a new health ministry regulation, they have to pay up to twenty times more for many prescription drugs, ranging from blood pressure regulators to anti-depressants. In order to cover a wider range of drugs, health insurance companies have reduced their subsidies on others, forcing Czechs dependent on them either to pay more or settle for less.

Some of those who have their heart in the right place are musicians on the Czech Pop scene, not least the country's first Pop Idol, Aneta Lanegrova. Aneta, just 19, will lead a gala benefit concert this coming Sunday to raise proceeds for Indonesia, the country worst hit by the tsunami disaster.

Staked out by paparazzi, the Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova, who was seriously injured when deadly tsunamis struck southeast Asia last month — and whose boyfriend is among those still missing — has agreed to be photographed from her hospital bed in Thailand to raise money for a children's charity.

Over a week after the Indian Ocean disaster, 23 Czechs are still missing with one confirmed dead and seven more unlikely to have survived. Most of the survivors who have returned to the Czech Republic have been reunited with their families, though three people have been put in quarantine at Prague's Bulovka hospital.

As every year after the Christmas and New Year's holidays, this Monday most of the retailers in the Czech Republic opened their stores with huge seasonal sales. But this time the discounts were much higher than in previous years. The general shopping binge was so big that it even caused long queues and traffic jams in several Czech cities.

Over 37 million crowns, or over 1.2 million euros, that's how much Czechs have raised so far in individual donations to help the stricken countries in South Asia. Most of the money has been gathered on the accounts of various aid agencies. Also, the Czech passion for sending SMS text messages from their mobile phones has been used for a good purpose.

Like elsewhere in the world, end of year celebrations in the Czech Republic passed under the cloud of the tsunami disaster, as radio and TV channels brought news of the latest developments. On Sunday a Czech military plane brought back the body of the first Czech casualty, a twenty four year old woman, and a group of survivors whose holiday in Asia turned into a nightmare.

It is customary throughout much of the world for heads of state or government to deliver a live New Year's Day address, to look back at the good and bad of the previous year and inspire the nation to work for a brighter future, even as many citizens are nursing hangovers from the previous night's celebrations. We take a look at the New Year's Day address of Czech president Vaclav Klaus.

In this review of the year in sport we take a brief look back at how Czech sportsmen and women fared over the last year. We start with the first major event of the year, the World Ice Hockey Championships, which were held in Prague and Ostrava, attracting over half a million spectators.

Generally, winter is not considered prime tourist season in Prague, but Christmas and New Year's Eve are an exception. Towards the end of each year, the Czech capital is bustling with foreign tourists. What attracts them to come at this time of a year? Where do they all come from? Martin Mikule has set off to Prague streets to find out.