Current Affairs | All stories

This year, the public broadcaster Czech Radio celebrates its eightieth anniversary. Throughout history, its meaning and role have changed from a revolutionary invention to an everyday companion, from a source of entertainment to a trumpet calling on Czechs to fight invaders, from a mouthpiece of communist propaganda to the voice of democracy. Radio Prague has prepared a series of reports to illustrate the eighty-year history of Czech Radio, and from now you can hear them in our programme or find them on our website every Friday. In the first part,

Radio Prague's correspondent Jaromir Marek has just accompanied the Czech Defence Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik on a Middle East trip, and among the places he visited was the Czech Army's field hospital in the Iraqi city of Basra.

The communist regime in the Czech Republic has been over for more than 13 years. Its history is still a subject of study and discussion. One of the contributions to this discussion is a museum of communism which opened in Prague about a year ago, welcoming an average of 100 guests per day. Busts of Lenin, posters from the totalitarian era, magazine covers of publications promoting totalitarian ideology, a mock interrogation office with decrepit black furniture and a mock shop with only a few items, including tin cans of Hungarian soup with bacon

Welcome to a special programme to mark the 58th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, a national holiday in the Czech Republic. The anniversary has a special significance in Prague, because it was here that some of the last shots of the war in Europe were fired, long after most European cities had been freed. The liberation of Prague by the Red Army on the 9th May 1945 was preceded by three days of fierce fighting in the streets of the city, and over 3000 people lost their lives fighting for Prague's freedom. In the uprising, the radio

On Monday, Czech Defence Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik left for a three-day trip to the Middle East. Mr Tvrdik visited the Czech anti-chemical unit in Kuwait and travelled to Iraq to take a look at the state of the Czech field hospital that is currently being built in the city of Basra. Earlier on Wednesday, Dita Asiedu spoke to our correspondent Jaromir Marek, who was part of the Czech delegation:

Bengas is one of the most popular Roma music groups in the Czech Republic, and while its members have been playing together since September 2001, they have just produced their first album. Called "Dza," it will be released on Wednesday at the Prague club Roxy. Bengas will play a benefit concert there, and the proceeds of it will go to the People in Need foundation's humanitarian work in Iraq.

The European Trade Union Confederation, which makes up the largest confederation of trade unions in the world, will be holding its tenth annual congress here in Prague in late May. This is the first time that the congress will be held in a former communist country. John Monks is the general secretary of the Trade Unions Congress in Britain, and also the future president of the European Trade Union Confederation.

Champagne splattered all over the panelists' clothing as Senator Michal Zantovsky "baptised" his Czech translation of American writer Joshua Muravchik's detailed account of the history of Socialism, titled Heaven on Earth. Political analyst Jiri Pehe, who also took part in the Monday presentation at a Prague bookstore, didn't have a chance to defend capitalism against another invited guest, Miloslav Ransdorf, the vice-chairman of the Czech Communist Party, as the Communist representative proved a no-show. During the discussion Muravchik talked about

Tuesday May 6th is World Asthma Day. This year's theme is the "Burden of Asthma" - on the patient, the family and society as a whole. The Czech Initiative for Asthma is organising various events around the country not only on World Asthma Day but throughout the month of May, focusing not only on asthma but also allergies which are the main risk factor contributing to the development of asthma.

The United States has signalled the possibility that it may move its troops - currently stationed in Germany - eastwards, almost 68 thousand in all. Although the debate over the stationing of US troops on Czech soil is still in its infancy, lines among politicians are already being drawn. Martin Hrobsky has been following the story to tell us why the issue is provoking so much debate so early on.