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The city of Plzen is renowned for its world famous beer, Pilsner Urquell. But the Czech city also has a cultural side. In a matter of days, film directors, actors and critics will flock to the city for its annual film festival - Finale Plzen. The festival has a long history dating back to 1968, when it was banned by the Communist regime. But it's been running steadily since 1989 and is in its 18th season. Kate Barrette met up with festival organizers at their headquarters in Plzen.

People from all over the country descended on Prague at the weekend for the Czech Republic's national arm wrestling championship. Organised arm wrestling competitions have been on the rise here and the sport is attracting a growing number of Czech arm-wrestling enthusiasts. There were well over a hundred people at the Prague event and competitors came from all over the country for a shot at one of the national titles up for grabs in various weight categories.

Throughout the spring Radio Prague has been running its series on Czechs in Toronto - a look at the lives of Czechs who fled Communist Czechoslovakia to Canada. It turns out that students at a high school in the North Bohemian town of Liberec have been up to something similar. Under the guidance of their history teacher, they headed for Toronto last summer, putting together a study as well a short film on émigrés'. What they recorded were some moving testimonies indeed.

Memorial ceremonies were held over the weekend at the Nazi concentration camps of Bergen-Belsen, Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrueck, to mark the sixtieth anniversary of their liberation. The names of these and other camps where millions were murdered have become embedded in our memory. But there were also smaller camps, scattered throughout German occupied Europe, places of terror that have been all but forgotten. The Jewish Museum in Prague has just opened a moving exhibition following the fate of Czech Jews, who in 1942 were transported to camps in

'Roman pro zeny' translates as 'A novel for women', but is actually confusingly a film released this Thursday. Its name derives from the best-selling book upon which the film is based. In both - the story of a young journalist Laura, her translator mother Jana and her Julia Roberts look-alike best friend, Ingrid - are told. Radio Prague saw it fit to send along a woman who likes novels to interview the film's director, Filip Renc. Rosie Johnston started by asking him how it was to make the film:

An agreement between the ruling coalition parties on forming a new government collapsed only hours after being clinched on Thursday, dashing hopes of ending the protracted political crisis in the Czech Republic. The leadership of the strongest coalition party, the Social Democrats, unexpectedly rejected the deal made by their own top bosses. This setback has brought negotiations back to square one, and further undermined the position of the Gross government.

Ctirad and Josef Masin and three others made a dramatic escape to the West in 1953. But in their wake they left six people dead, and many Czechs regard them as murderers. After being passed over for official state honours, the Masins and their friends are now being given an award by a Czech and Slovak association in the Canadian city of Halifax.

The European Union is set to go through with its second wave of expansion in less than two years after the European Parliament on Wednesday voted to pave the way for Bulgaria and Romania to join the EU as early as January 1, 2007.

The three parties in the collapsed Czech government on Thursday agreed on the formation of a new majority-backed Cabinet, ending months of political turmoil and paving the way for the embattled Prime Minister Stanislav Gross to step down. Following eight hours of gruelling talks, Mr. Gross emerged to face the media at 3 am on Thursday morning, saying that the three parties had agreed on the fundamental points of a majority, pro-European government which should see the country through to the next general elections in mid 2006.

The carmaker Skoda Auto announced this week that it would begin producing its Octavia brand in China, starting with its luxury sedan version in 2007 and later estate cars. Just over 2,300 Octavias were sold in China last year but Skoda plans to produce some 40,000 vehicles at its Shanghai plant within just a couple of years. A Czech brand for more than a century, Skoda is wholly owned by German manufacturer Volkswagen AG, which already makes cars in China, and has made inroads into India. Brian Kenety recently spoke with the Central European correspondent