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The disputed Presidential elections in Ukraine have sent ripples of concern around the world, with Europe and the United States backing opposition claims that the voting was marred by fraud. Czechs too are watching the developments with concern. Before the Second World War, part of today's Ukraine was Czechoslovak territory; in the days of the Czechoslovak federation, the country bordered on Ukraine and today there is a large Ukrainian community in Prague and other Czech cities, many working in the construction industry. For a Czech perspective

Although the Velvet Revolution has brought huge social changes, the gay and lesbian community in the Czech Republic still has a low profile. The Mezipatra film festival recently ended in Prague and is one of the most significant events celebrating gay and lesbian culture. In addition to films screened this year, there were also theatre performances, literary readings, photography and painting exhibitions and two festival parties. The first festival was held in 2000 and drew eight hundred viewers. Since then the popularity of the festival has exploded,

Thousands were jailed and hundreds were executed during the terror of Stalinism in 1950s Czechoslovakia. But, what was it like to be a child whose parents were jailed during those times? Czech American Jana Svehlova knows just what it was like- her father was a political prisoner and she herself has just written a Ph.D dissertation on the issue.

Two months ago, the governor of Baghdad narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, as a roadside bomb attack rocked his convoy, leaving two civilians dead. One week ago, Gov. Ali al-Haidri declared a 60-day state of emergency ahead of a major U.S.-Iraq military offensive against insurgents based in the city of Fallujah. This Friday, however, the Iraqi governor was in Prague to discuss plans -- and possible work for Czech engineering and construction firms -- for the reconstruction of the historic city of Baghdad.

The sound of poetry was heard across the Czech Republic over the past week during the sixth annual Poetry Day festival. Although the festival is mostly a celebration of Czech literature, international poets like the one we just heard were also on the diverse bill. Prague high school students watched as Scottish performance poet Anita delivered some fiery lines.

During a month of anniversaries for post-communist Europe, Prague's Transitions Online has also been celebrating an anniversary - that of its own transition. The non-profit English-language web magazine covers news from the developing democracies in Europe and Asia that emerged from behind the Iron Curtain. Five years ago, it rose out of the ashes of Transitions magazine and established a network of correspondents stretching from Prague to the Ulan Bator. Eric Martin spoke to the magazine's director and editor-in-chief, Jeremy Druker, at a recent birthday

The police have cracked down on an illegal trade in babies, arresting five people, including the head of a maternity ward. The highly publicized case, in which a young woman and a doctor were arrested at Trebic airport as they were preparing to hand over a newborn baby boy, has opened a great many questions, primarily: how much of this is actually going on?

What in the world, you're probably wondering is that? What you're hearing is actually the sound of thousands of different domestic birds featured at the 28th European Breeders' Fair held this year in Prague, bringing together about 14,000 specimens of fowl and small furry animals. Jan Velinger was there and brought back - no, not a cuddly new pet - but this report.

There is much to be done. That was the unanimous verdict of academics, politicians and former dissidents who met Wednesday to reflect on the legacy of the Velvet Revolution. But precisely what work remains for the Czech Republic's continuing democratization was a matter for debate.

On the morning of November 17th 1989 no one would have ever believed that the events of that day would lead to the collapse of forty years of Communist rule. A quiet and peaceful student march was violently cracked down by police. Some 170 students were injured, triggering a wave of nationwide strikes and protests. Just weeks later, the Communist regime fell. But few people are aware that the student march was held to commemorate events fifty years earlier. On October 28th, 1939, a student demonstration protesting at the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia