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One of the most senior members of the British government, Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons Geoff Hoon, is in Prague at the moment at the invitation of Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek and the ruling Social Democrats. Mr Hoon, former UK Defence Secretary, has been speaking to the party about how they can learn from the experiences of the British Labour Party, which has undergone great change in recent years. But his visit also comes at a time when the British Prime Minister Tony Blair tries to persuade new EU members to accept a deal

Toy slot machines have become one of this year's Christmas hits and are said to be selling like hot cakes at Sparky's. Priced at 700 crowns apiece they are miniature copies of the real machines with one small exception - they are filled with coloured chips instead of real coins.

Friday marks the two-hundredth anniversary of the "Battle of Three Emperors" -- Napoleon's decisive victory over the Austrian and Russian armies on the Moravian plains near the town of Austerliz, or Slavkov as it's known in Czech. In 1805, the region was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the locals considered themselves on the losing side of the battle.

It's being described as a revolution in Czech criminal law. On Wednesday the lower house approved sweeping changes to the criminal code, covering everything from the age of criminal responsibility to the possession of magic mushrooms. There was a stormy debate in parliament over the new code, which must still be approved by the Senate and signed by the president.

While the spread of AIDS is becoming increasingly difficult to contain in some parts of the world, statistics suggest that the Czech Republic is a fairly sheltered country in this respect. To date 807 people are registered HIV positive, 76 are AIDS sufferers and 118 people have succumbed to the disease. But do these statistics reflect the real picture or merely the tip of the iceberg?

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose country now holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, faces a frosty reception at meetings in the Estonian and Hungarian capitals this week over his plans to push for lower subsidies to new EU member states like the Czech Republic. Mr Blair's as yet unpublished plan to reduce the overall EU budget for 2007-13 in large part hinges on concentrating cuts on the new member states - the poorest within the union.

Do you sometimes wish you could have more time? If so, then you might like to visit a new exhibition where it is most definitely not in short supply. David Vaughan reports from one of Prague's lesser known but most interesting museums.

It's not an uncommon sight in the Prague metro or on the city's tram lines: a tourist confusedly patting down his pockets, then calling out for help, realising he's just been robbed. Pick-pocketing in Prague, as in most major cities, is a major problem: police say that the actual number of cases could be more than five times higher than the 8,000 officially reported each year. Still, there is now something to cheer about: according to police, pick-pocketing in Prague has gone down for the first time in a decade and arrests are up. Just as the city

International consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers has released the results of its biennial global economic survey, based on thousands of interviews with senior executives, casting light on trends in economic crime. According to the report, global economic crime has grown substantially since 2003's result - an 8 percentage point increase. Most notable, worldwide, has been the increase of fraud. How has the Czech Republic fared?

When we hear about the UNESCO list of world heritage sites we think of places like Notre Dame in Paris or here in the Czech Republic old towns like Cesky Krumlov or even Prague itself. But did you know that less tangible parts of our heritage like theatre performances, music, and dances are also supported and protected by UNESCO?