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This time last year, the Czech Republic joined the EU amid much fanfare. But now that the country has been an EU member for over a year, what effect has it actually had? One Year On, a conference held by Czech Europhiles in Prague on Wednesday set about tackling this very question.

Czech architecture has a long and rich tradition, but in the last few years, it has also come in for a lot of criticism, as faceless shopping centres mushroom around the country. In order to improve the quality of contemporary Czech architectural design, the Czech Society of Architects organizes an annual competition. On Wednesday the international jury of the Grand Prix announced the winner.

An American investment group has taken over Czech truck maker Avia. Odien Restructuring Services plans to bring the Prague-based manufacturer back to profitability by recapturing past markets and forging ahead into new territory. The acquisition ends Daewoo Motor's decade long foray into the Czech Republic.

Exactly 60 years ago, on 5th May 1945, the Prague Uprising against the German occupiers began here in the very building that houses Radio Prague. "Calling all Czechs" went the now legendary appeal over the airwaves, as defiant radio journalists here at our headquarters in Vinohradska Street, called on the people of Prague to rise up against their occupiers. In the three days that followed over 2,000 Czechs lost their lives in intense street fighting that focused more than anywhere else on the radio building.

Roztoky, which is just a fifteen minute drive from Prague, is a quiet little town overlooking the River Vltava. With the exception of its beautiful chateau, it is not a place that has tended to attract much attention. That was until last month, when a row broke out between town councillors and some local residents over an order that the administration said had come from Brussels.

Two of the biggest names in Czech football faced each other on Tuesday night, with striker Milan Baros and his club Liverpool playing host to Petr Cech's Chelsea. The prize: a place in the final of football's greatest club competition, the Champions League.

The general director of Czech Railways resigned on Tuesday after only 27 months in office. Petr Kousal was the 8th director of the company in the 12 years of its existence. Although the financial losses of the Czech Republic's biggest employer have decreased significantly in recent years, the company continues to face many challenges from both within and without.

The aura of the Wild West has been a source of fascination for many Czechs down through the years. Practically every town has a Wild-West-themed bar and Country and Western music is also hugely popular. There is even regular Czech participation at the World Championship in Wild West disciplines such as lassoing and tomahawk throwing, which are held each year in the US. This year the Czech team actually won two competitions and were highly placed in three others.

It's a beautiful sunny day here in Prague and I'm standing on Prague's Letna Hill overlooking the Vltava River and the Old Town. Tourists come here today, not only for the breathtaking view but to see the large ticking metronome, which was erected here in 1991. But for the local residents this spot holds a darker memory - little do the tourists around me know that exactly fifty years ago, at this very site, some six hundred men and women were working around the clock to create the world's biggest monument ever to honour the Soviet Communist party

Over the next week Radio Prague will be marking the 60th anniversary of the end of Word War II with a number of special reports, ranging from a trip to the English village where the Czechoslovak government in exile were based to the first military parade on Prague's Letna plain since the fall of communism.