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The public administration has become more acutely aware of the value of cooperation with the NGO sector. Such co-operation is vital for the democratic development of institutions in the Czech Republic. It was not like this, however, at the beginning of the 90s. Now, though, the Ministry of Justice along with Transparency International have just published a database, which they hope will speed up business registration in the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic has always enjoyed a good reputation thanks to its beautiful women and its delicious brew. But if Czechs continue to live the comfortable life-style they adopted after the fall of the totalitarian regime, they may soon make headlines for a different reason - representing the fattest nation in Europe. Czech doctors have been recording a growing number of overweight and obese patients, not only among adults but with children too. Some five percent of Czech minors are obese. Due to this alarming growth, the Czech weight watcher

Not only is Sir Charles Mackerras one of the world's great conductors, but he has also done more than anyone else to draw international attention to Czech music. Leos Janacek, who was born 150 years ago this year, is Sir Charles's great musical passion, and it was rather apt that a major festival of Janacek's music in the composer's home town of Brno should have culminated in an honorary doctorate being awarded to Sir Charles by the city's Janacek Academy of Musical Arts. Radio Prague's Jaromir Marek was there, and took the opportunity to talk

The Czech parliament is preparing for a heated debate on the adoption of a European arrest warrant in this country. The measure is intended to help counteract terrorism and organised crime, and is also necessary for EU membership. Nevertheless, because the implementation of a European arrest warrant requires countries to change their own national legislation, some people fear that it will lead to a loss of sovereignty.

Inspired by a Slovak station, a Czech commercial radio station together with a daily newspaper challenged members of the Czech Parliament to try to live on the country's minimum wage for a whole month. Most of them refused, claiming it was only an empty populist gesture, but four parliamentarians did accept the challenge. Of the four, only MP Petr Bratsky managed to survive on the minimum wage until the end of January.

The legendary cinematographer Miroslav Ondricek will be presented the American Society of Cinematographers International Achievement Award this weekend in Los Angeles, California. The prolific cameraman began his career in Czechoslovakia, with the emergence of what was known as the "New Wave" of Eastern European filmmakers in the early 1960s. He began his career working on documentaries and later started studying at the Prague film school FAMU. He entered the Hollywood mainstream during the late 1970s and now has 40 film credits and a number of

When the European Union enlarges on May 1 several of the EU's bigger countries - such as France, Italy and Germany - will restrict access to migration from the ten new member countries. One of the few countries which will not place such restrictions is Great Britain. In recent days there have been press reports in the UK that Tony Blair's government plans to tighten welfare regulations before May 1, fearing an influx of Romany welfare claimants from the Czech Republic and other former Eastern Bloc states.

How do you ensure that people who own TV sets pay their license fees? In response to frequent complaints from Czech Public Television that the fees are too low and thousands of people avoid paying them - politicians are now deciding on the best possible course of action.

On Monday, president Vaclav Klaus signed a law ensuring that former Czech presidents will receive 100,000 crowns per month from the state. Half of the funds are to be used as pension and the other half to cover their office expenses. The only former president concerned by this law is Klaus's predecessor Vaclav Havel. Mr. Havel's office remains active in its international quest for human rights and the former president himself continues to make numerous public appearances - on January 5th of this year he received the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prize,

These days almost everyone in public life has a webpage - and even highly controversial businessman Viktor Kozeny - the so-called Pirate of Prague - has proven no exception. Last week the former Czech turned Irish citizen and Bahamas resident launched a new webpage to help garner Czech support for what he claims will be his run for European Parliament in elections in June. But can a man who is wanted by Czech authorities on charges of cheating investors out of billions really believe he can count on Czech support? The idea seems dubious at