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The historic town of Melnik north of Prague has a lot to offer to visitors. Its history goes back to the 9th century and in the 13th century Melnik along with its castle became a dowry town of Czech queens. During the reign of Emperor Charles IV Melnik became the centre of wine growing in the Czech Lands and there are vineyards to this day. As of next year the town hopes to welcome plenty more tourists from abroad, as a brand new river port is going to be built there, connecting Melnik directly with Germany via the river Elbe.

On Thursday Parliament approved -in its first reading - a bill which would smooth the way for compulsory purchase of land and property from private owners for projects in the public interest, such as the construction of roads and railways. Although this is an accepted practice in most countries and has been going on for years in the Czech Republic under existing legislation, the bill met with opposition from the right wing Civic Democratic Party.

The Cabinet on Wednesday appointed Deputy Police President Vladislav Husak for the uniformed police to serve as acting police chief in the Czech Republic. But in a snub to the interior minister, who proposed Mr Husak, they only confirmed him as a temporary stop-gap. Mr Husak is a controversial choice, as he was the officer directly responsible for the police action in July to shutdown the techno rave party known as CzechTek, which left scores injured on both sides.

In April 2003, just before the end of the war in Iraq, the Czech Republic was one of six countries invited to work on a plan to help rebuild the Iraq as soon as peace settles in. One man, whose main goal was to help Czech companies win contracts to take part in the reconstruction of Iraq was Martin Klepetko, who spent two years as Czech Ambassador to Baghdad. Mr Klepetko has just finished his term and now works in the foreign ministry's department for southern and eastern Europe.

A quiet provincial town in the rolling hills of Southern Moravia is not a place where you would expect to hear the resounding tones of the operatic greats, but you have to remember that this is a musical nation. David Vaughan reports.

Tables laden with steaming Wiener schnitzels, golden and crisp roast chicken, roast pork with dumplings and sauerkraut and so on - for decades those were an integral part of Czech family life. But now times seem to be changing.

Despite screening laws, former members of the communist-era intelligence services continue to hold positions of authority in today's modern equivalent, the BIS, the daily Mlada fronta Dnes reports. At least two high-ranking Czech BIS officers who received KGB training under the previous regime and worked with the Soviets to undermine NATO, now work in a politically sensitive BIS section tasked with uncovering agents from the countries of the former Soviet Union.

Recently discovered footage of Polish and Czechoslovak Jews leaving Prague for Britain in 1945 was shown for the first time on Tuesday at London's Imperial War Museum. The four and half minutes of film show 732 teenage Holocaust survivors heading for Britain, a country many of them would later make their home. Among them was Ben Helfgott, a Polish Jew from near Lodz, who was at Tuesday's premiere.

Czech roads are considered to be among the most dangerous in Europe: 1,200 people are killed in road accidents every year. The traffic police claim that this is largely due to undisciplined drivers and their own lack of clout in enforcing traffic regulations. But ask motorists to tell you their side of the story and you'll hear plenty of different arguments: poor road maintenance which makes them swerve unexpectedly to avoid potholes, overburdened highways and too many distractions in the form of road-signs, billboards and even memorial stones

The Czech national anthem describes the Czech Republic as paradise on earth, boasting waters murmuring through its meadows and forests rustling over rocky hills. Well, it looks like the country is delivering on its promises - in just forty years the area covered by forests has increased by 50,000 hectares.