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Just a few days ago the Czech commission to UNESCO chaired by Senator Jaroslava Moserova issued an appeal to the Culture Ministry and Prague's Town Hall to do their utmost to preserve the character of Prague's historic city centre. The appeal came on the heels of several experts' assessments that if certain controversial projects were realised, it might lead to Prague's being struck off UNESCO's list of world heritage sites. The Czech capital has been included on the list since 1992 - is there any real weight to the threat it might be struck off

Every year, dozens of countries around the world mark Earth Day on April 22nd. Czechs joined the worldwide campaign for preserving the global environment in 1990. This year, the main focus is on a big clean-up.

Anyone living in the Czech Republic in the 1990s will remember how the business world seemed to reel from one financial scandal to another, as the country grappled with the difficult process of post-communist privatisation. Now, a new study has been released, which looks at some of the successes and failures of this turbulent period in Czech history.

Czech civil servants went on strike on Wednesday morning for just one hour. All-out strikes are almost unheard of in the Czech Republic, where dissatisfied workers sometimes go on "strike alert", basically a warning that they might think about striking if employers don't meet their demands. But why are Czech workers so reluctant to take stronger action? Commentator Vaclav Zak says it's largely because there is no tradition of striking in this country

Trade unions say up to 200,000 civil servants joined a one-hour token strike on Wednesday morning in protest against cuts to their thirteenth month's salary, which is a form of end-of- year bonus. The government has decided to pay public sector employees only ten percent of the thirteenth month's salary in the future, saying they simply cannot afford to offer workers more. Many civil servants say they will actually earn less this year.

For the first time ever, foreigners will be able to vote in a Czech election. When Czechs go to the polls in their first elections to the European Parliament in a few weeks' time, citizens from other EU countries will also be able to vote for Czech candidates - a strange thought just 14 years after the fall of communism. All you need is permanent or long-term residence in the Czech Republic. British citizen and Zizkov resident, David Vaughan went down to register.

The growing number of rodents in Prague is to be curbed by pest-controllers hired by the city council in about one month's time - that news has come coinciding with a number of reports showing that rodents including sewer-rats, have begun spilling onto certain streets in some areas of Prague, even in broad daylight. Besides causing shock for some, rats represent a serious threat in the spread of diseases, which can be life-threatening.

Voters in neighbouring Slovakia have chosen the country's new president. In the second round of voting on Saturday, Slovakia's former parliament chairman Ivan Gasparovic was elected as Slovak president. With 60 percent of the vote, he beat his one-time close ally, controversial former prime minister Vladimir Meciar. Earlier Pavla Horakova spoke to Rob Cameron who had followed the election in Bratislava and she first asked him to tell us more about the president-elect.

During the six days that the three Czech journalists were held captive in Iraq the Czech Foreign Ministry worked hard to secure their release, looking for help in all possible quarters, including the Czech Republic's Muslim community.

There were scenes of great joy at Prague airport early on Sunday morning when three Czech journalists kidnapped last week in Iraq were reunited with their families. The three - Czech Radio's Vit Pohanka, and Michal Kubal and Petr Klima of Czech Television - had been abducted by a group of Iraqi insurgents the previous Sunday, before being released on Friday after intense diplomatic negotiations. The news that they had been freed was greeted with great relief in the Czech Republic: many had feared the worst for the three journalists.