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Since the fall of Communism sixteen years ago, the Czech Republic has felt a sense of responsibility to help promote democracy in countries where basic human rights are frequently violated. The Czech government openly criticises the Castro regime, calls for an independent Tibet, and actively supported the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. But what are Czechs doing to help promote democracy in Belarus, where the press is censored, any form of political dissent is a punishable offence, and the use of Russian is more common than the native

Prague's famous Orloj -or Astronomical clock - attracts millions of tourists every year. Soon Prague will not be the only place where you can admire it. This spring a perfect copy of the Orloj will be rubbing shoulders with the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben in Brussels.

On Monday, both Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda and Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Havel received visitors from the British Embassy, but on this occasion their guests were somewhat younger than you might perhaps expect from ambassadorial visitors. They were in fact the two 18 year old winners of the "Ambassador for a Day" essay writing competition, which was organised by the British Embassy in Prague to encourage young people in the Czech Republic to take an interest in European diplomacy. Yet despite their youth, the two winners had no less of a passion

This week Spain, Portugal and Finland become the latest members of the "old" EU to announce they will open their labour markets to workers from the "new" Europe - the Czech Republic included. France and Italy are also said to be considering relaxing restrictions on EU newcomers. But will Czechs - so attached to their families and country cottages - be keen to take up the offer?

A ceremony took place at the National Memorial on Prague's Vitkov Hill on Tuesday as the latest Czech Army contingent - the tenth to date - prepared to leave for Iraq. The Czech soldiers, around a hundred in total, are stationed at a British base in Shaiba in the south of the country, where they have been training Iraqi police officers. As the soldiers bid goodbye to family and friends, I spoke to Major General Emil Pupis, director of the Czech Army's joint operations centre and deputy chief of staff; I began by asking him if many of the latest

Heavy snowfall paralyzed many parts of the Czech Republic on Sunday, closing Prague's Ruzyne Airport for over ten hours, restricting highways to one-lane traffic and cutting off mountain towns and villages. Many people claim this is the longest and harshest winter in half a century.

As the Second World War came to an end in 1945, numerous atrocities were committed in towns across Czechoslovakia, as the Czech people rose up against Nazi occupation. Investigations into the Nazi massacre which occurred in the final days of the war in Leskovice have revealed that those responsible for several of these crimes are still living in Germany today. Now, police have made a number of discoveries about another such slaughter in Velke Mezirici, which have brought detectives closer than ever before to finding out the truth about

The Czech press has called it the biggest pre-election event of the Social Democrats - the meeting of the Party of European Socialists (or PES) that was held in Prague on Friday. Co-hosted by its President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen of Denmark and the Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek, the conference discussed three major issues: economic growth in Europe, a sustainable energy policy for the continent and peace in the Middle East.

The leaders of European socialist parties met in Prague on Friday for a conference hosted by the Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek to discuss, among other issues, the EU's Spring Summit and a stronger European energy policy. Before the event, Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek held separate meetings with some of the participants, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

When you think of sport in the Czech Republic, the first that come to mind are the winter variety, with ice hockey most popular among Czechs during the cold season. But once the snow has melted, we find other sports coming to the forefront. One of these is motor sport, something that is rapidly gaining popularity here. As the biking season gets underway, Thursday saw the opening of the 10th Motocykl international motorcycle and accessories exhibition, and I went along to find out how this sport is really moving up a gear in the Czech Republic.