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The Czech ruling coalition on Sunday agreed on the framework for the second phase of the public finance reform. The agreement reach entails lowering the basic 22 percent value added tax rate to 19 percent as of May and leaving the current 5 percent rate at the present level. The move will increase the prices of some goods and services and lower the price of others. The government expects the changes to bring an additional 17 billion crowns to the state budget but wants to pay the money back to citizens and companies. Families with children and

Czech scuba divers pulled what Czechs would call a "husarsky kousek" or neat trick -last week when - during reconstruction - they discovered an object beneath Prague's historic Charles Bridge that no one expected to find: the torso of a lost angel, part of a Baroque statue which collapsed into the Vltava River more than 200 years ago, when the bridge was damaged by floods. The angel belonged to a grouping of statues, including Saint Wenceslas, which was removed to a depository, where it remains to this day.

The Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla told reporters after meeting opposition politicians on Thursday that former Environment Minister Milos Kuzvart would be nominated as the country's first European Commissioner. Mr Kuzvart's nomination has failed to receive the support of the two smaller parties in the ruling coalition, and he's also opposed by the main opposition party, the Civic Democrats. So is Milos Kuzvart up to the job? A question we put earlier to political analyst Jiri Pehe.

The new financial reform that came into force in January makes it impossible for small entrepreneurs to avoid taxes, even when they have no revenue or a loss. Some of them are expected to give up their businesses and become unemployed.

Despite being one of America's staunchest allies in Europe, Czech citizens still need to apply for a visa to visit the United States. For many of them, this can be a long and relatively expensive process. Some Czech politicians are now calling for these visa requirements to be lifted.

As the Academy Awards loom the Czech Republic once again finds itself rooting for one of its own - Ondrej Trojan - the director of Zelary - who brought a cycle of stories by writer Kveta Legatova to the big screen. The story, set in the rugged mountainous Walachia region of Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia during World War II, brings together characters from opposite social backgrounds. The male lead, the role of a blacksmith played by Gyorgy Cserhalmi, is wounded and brought to hospital where Anna Geislerova, a nurse in the resistance tries to save

A meeting at the Prague Municipal court took place on Tuesday to thrash out the ongoing issue in the Czech Republic, "Why are the courts so slow?" Existing efforts to modernize the current system were discussed with a primary focus on information exchange, or shall we say lack there of. The transparent judicial system of Canada was presented as an exemplary model, where detailed court proceedings are posted on the Internet for the public.

In August of 2002 devastating floods swept through the Czech Republic leaving behind a trail of destruction and despair. You could hear a pin drop this week as an audience of EU representatives, investors and town hall officials watched a video documenting the post-flood operations. Nevertheless, the occasion was a happy one - marking the end of flood repair work. Czech officials expressed gratitude for the EU's generous and speedy support during and after the crisis- and the head of the EU delegation to the Czech Republic Mr. Ralf Dreyer commended

A report in the newspaper Mlada Fronta Dnes containing details of plans to modernise the Prague Castle complex caused a minor stir this week. The paper claimed the plans included everything from new shops and restaurants to a hairdressers and even a branch of McDonald's! The article hasn't gone down well with the President's Office, which has accused the paper of blowing things out of proportion. Chancellor Jiri Weigl is the Head of the President's Office.

British stag parties careering noisily through the streets have become an increasingly common sight in Prague. These male drinking groups are evidently attracted by the cheap beer on sale in the Czech capital, among other things. We have a look at this growing phenomenon.