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The verdict of a regional court which gave three youths found guilty of a brutal racist attack against a Romany couple a three year suspended sentence has evoked outrage among the Romany minority. They have petitioned the government and the justice ministry, demanding a fair and just trial. Deputy Prime Minister Petr Mares, who also professed to have been shocked by the benevolent sentences, has asked the justice minister for an explanation. We asked the government's human rights commissioner Jan Jarab how he perceived the verdict of the Jesenik

2004 is a year of Czech musical jubilees. It's a hundred years since the death of the greatest of all Czech composers, Antonin Dvorak, a hundred-and-fifty years since the birth of Leos Janacek, composer of Taras Bulba and The Cunning Little Vixen; and the great 19th century symbol of the national revival in Czech music, Bedrich Smetana, was born a hundred-and-eighty years ago. By an uncanny coincidence there are at least a dozen other major Czech musical anniversaries that you can add to the list. So it's hardly surprising that this year has been

The Czech Republic is currently experiencing proper winter weather - much to the delight of winter sports lovers. But just like every year snow and freezing temperatures have been causing severe problems throughout the country.

The National Security Council on Tuesday approved a new, much stricter airport protection system which includes the possibility of armed guards on board planes. Daniela Lazarova has been following the story and joins me in the studio now. Daniela is this move in response to US demands for there to be armed guards aboard all planes flying to the Unites States?

The patience of Czech general practitioners, dentists and pharmacists is quickly coming to an end. About 22 000 health care professionals stopped providing their services Tuesday morning in hopes that the Czech government will take notice of its failure to meet their needs during its reform of the health sector.

Since 1925, a team from the Czech Academy of Science's Institute of Archaeology has been accompanying all building activities at Prague Castle with excavation work to find important objects and clues that point to the castle's historical development. Now, almost eighty years later, they have drawn a surprising conclusion from recent discoveries, which will soon require text books to be re-written. Dita Asiedu has the story:

Fifty-six years after he was found dead in a courtyard beneath his apartment window, police have finally concluded that Czechoslovakia's post-war foreign minister Jan Masaryk was murdered. This will come as no surprise to those who watched the Communist Party take power in 1948, but goes against the official version that Masaryk committed suicide. Rob Cameron reports.

It's ten days now since the Iranian city of Bam was hit by a massive earthquake, causing widespread destruction and leaving an estimated 30,000 people dead. Czech Radio's Vit Pohanka arrived in Bam within hours of the disaster, and saw for himself the scenes of devastation. Rob Cameron has been speaking to him.

As many as 10,000 Czechs, former illegal workers in the United States, stand a chance of receiving compensation from the US retailer Wal-Mart. That is if they sign up to a joint lawsuit alleging that Wal-Mart systematically exploited its cleaning staff by denying them basic rights and labour protections.

The Czech President Vaclav Klaus addressed the nation on Thursday in his first ever New Year's speech as head of state. President Klaus, who was sworn into office last March, choose a somewhat conciliatory tone for his New Year's address. There was the usual ill-concealed aversion to the European Union, but this time it was moderated with some positive words.