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The weekend's elections to regional assemblies, the second since sweeping local government reforms were introduced four years ago, resulted in an overwhelming victory of the right-of-centre opposition Civic Democrats, the party founded by the current President Vaclav Klaus. They won in 12 out of 13 assemblies, across the country. The ruling Social Democrats came a humiliating third, lagging behind the largely unreconstructed Communists, who are celebrating their success. Pavla Horakova spoke to political scientist Vladimira Dvorakova and asked

The eastern German city of Cottbus last week organized its 14th Film Festival specializing on East European Cinema. Apart from the feature film competition and a display of successful movies from countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the festival annually focuses on cinematography of a particular country. This year it was Czech cinema that had the chance to present itself. My colleague Martin Mikule hopped across the border to Germany for the last couple of days of the festival. He's now with me in the studio, so Martin, tell us what was it

If products bear such labels as Parma ham, Emmenthal cheese, Cognac or Champagne, you know you're buying the real thing, produced only in one specific area of Europe under strict supervision. Soon a similar label could be attached to one very special Czech product: Czech brewers have filed a request with the European Commission to have the "Czech Beer" brand registered, ruling out the possibility of watery imitations flooding the market.

After 140 years of compulsory military service in this part of the world, the Czech Army is going fully professional from the beginning of January. The Senate approved the move on Thursday, and it now only needs the president's signature to become law. The last ever group of conscripts is due home just in time for Christmas. But after such a long tradition of military service, how do Czechs feel about the change? We asked some people on the streets of Prague.

In the six months since the Czech Republic joined the EU, Ireland has become a destination of choice for many Czechs hoping to take advantage of the country's newly relaxed labour laws and find jobs that offer better "Western" wages in comparison with those on offer back home. Radio Prague spoke with some Czechs working in Ireland and asked them what life was like in the land of the "Celtic tiger".

Czech hockey fans packed Prague's Sazka Arena on Tuesday night, setting a new attendance record for the Czech hockey league. Kate Barrette has been finding out why.

While some European leaders may be feeling trepidation at the election of George Bush to a second term as US President, the Czech President Vaclav Klaus - himself a strong advocate of the political right - responded with unconcealed delight, describing Mr Bush as a "true leader of his nation at a difficult time". And that is despite Mr Klaus's reservations about the Iraq war. But Czech political opinion is divided, as we found out when we spoke to deputies in the Czech parliament on Thursday.

This weekend Czechs vote in both regional and Senate elections. One third of seats in the Senate are up for grabs in a two-round vote, with the run-off the weekend after next. The opposition Civic Democrats had been way ahead in opinion polls, but have slipped back in recent months, while the governing Social Democrats regained ground. On the eve of the elections, Ian Willoughby asked commentator Vaclav Zak how the Social Democrats had managed to win back voter support.

Public opinion in the Czech Republic of the US political scene is generally portrayed as being more pro-Bush than in many European Union countries, and a poll held by the GFK Institute a couple of days before the presidential election seemed to confirm this. It suggested that 20 percent of Czechs supported Bush compared to 16 percent for Kerry. Martin Mikule asked the political analyst Jiri Pehe to what extent he felt this to be an accurate picture of public opinion.

Whatever the final count, the next president of the United States will be a direct descendent of the ancient rulers of Bohemia. A well-known Czech-American scholar says that both President George W Bush and Senator John Kerry — who are very distant cousins, twice removed — can trace their roots back to Duke Borivoj I and Saint Ludmila.