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The Czech state pension system is among the most generous in the European Union, and indeed the developed world -- at least for those retirees who were below-average earners during their working years. But according to a recent analysis of state pension systems, only in the United Kingdom do high-wage earners get back less in their golden years than do their Czech counterparts.

You may well already be familiar with "New Odyssey", an on-going project supported by Czech Radio, using satellite to monitor the migration routes of black storks as they head south for warmer climates every autumn. When the project first started ten years ago, our colleagues followed the progress of black storks here in Europe, as they made their way to Africa. But for the last three years, the project has moved east, mapping the migration of storks from Siberia and Mongolia to India and Burma. This year's attempt to tag the annual epic journey

President Bush pledged this week to rebuild the city of New Orleans, devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The tragedy has moved people around the world, and millions of dollars in aid have been raised by charities for the people of the ruined city, the world's capital of jazz. Two musicians from Prague have decided to hold a benefit concert to raise money for New Orleans.

Vaclav Klaus spent three days in Israel this week, his first official visit to the country since becoming president. Mr Klaus held talks with senior Israeli officials and visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, and also pleased his hosts by saying the Czech Republic would help the EU to adopt what he called a balanced approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The latest film by Czech director and screenwriter Bohdan Slama, "Stesti" or "Something Like Happiness" has just premiered in Prague to high critical acclaim. Slama's previous feature "The Wild Bees" ("Divoke vcely") received a number of international awards, and according to reviewers, "Something Like Happiness" stands a similar chance.

While Italy has Silvio Berlusconi the Czech Republic has Vladimir Zelezny - TV magnate turned politician. Mr Zelezny is the former general director of the popular commercial station TV Nova and currently a European Parliament member for the Independent Democrats, a party that he himself founded. Under investigation for tax evasion amounting to 6.8 million crowns (some 280,000 US dollars), Vladimir Zelezny faces being stripped of his parliamentary immunity.

A dentist's drill is probably not a favourite sounds for most of us, but think how much worse off we would be without dentists. The Czech Chamber of Dentists is raising the alarm, that the Czech Republic could soon be threatened with just such a situation. Unless the state changes its attitude, they say, the country will soon face a critical shortage of dentists.

The Romany violinist and signer Iva Bittova is one of the Czech Republic's leading avant-garde musicians. She is also well respected abroad, particularly in the United States, and this week launched a new album recorded with New York ensemble Bang on a Can All Stars.

Czech archaeologists are keeping a very low profile this week after it emerged that a find which they claimed to be the statuette of a Persian Goddess dating back to the fifth century was nothing but a five year old fake allegedly created by teenagers for fun.

The average Czech has more pocket money than his or her neighbours in fellow post-communist countries like Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary. But according to a new survey out this week, there is a growing East-West divide within the Czech Republic itself, and concern that a "two-speed" economy is developing.