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Prague court officials have just freed on health grounds an old aged pensioner who, after losing 15 million crowns in a Nigerian "investment" scam, killed an official at the country's embassy. And if this tragic story wasn't unusual enough, it turns out that the freshly released Jiri Pasovsky is a man with a most colourful past.

It's just over a week since a new law on smoking in public places came into effect in the Czech Republic. The law has been criticised by smokers as too harsh and by the anti-smoking lobby as too lenient. So what's changed and what's the reaction among the public?

Europe is on bird flu alert once again, as Turkey has reported 14 cases of bird flu in humans in recent days, including three deaths. As farmers continue slaughtering thousands of birds, international bird flu experts are investigating how quickly the strain is spreading. Although there is still no evidence that the disease has begun to pass between humans, the Czech Health Ministry says an emergency pandemic plan is ready.

Without question 2006 is a year to look forward to in Czech sport: from Olympic hockey to the football World Cup. Both tournaments are taking place just around the corner, in Italy and Germany, so a lot of Czechs will be on the move, both fans - and reporters. Jan Velinger spoke to Jan Palicka, a senior writer for Mlada Fronta Dnes, and asked him how he saw Czech prospects this year:

Sixteen years after the fall of the communism, the crimes of the totalitarian regime are still coming to light. On Wednesday, two former agents of the communist intelligence services were charged with murder dating almost 50 years back. In 1957, the wife of a French official was killed after she opened a parcel bomb intended for her husband. Now the two face jail terms of up to 15 years.

A Czech businessman was arrested at Brussels airport on Thursday on charges of illegally exporting weapons to a number of countries, including Iraq. Dalibor Kopp, who is 44, is accused of being a major gun-runner whose customers allegedly included Islamic terror groups.

A procession of Three Kings - a re-enactment of the journey of the Three Wise Men to visit the infant Jesus - annually marks the end of the Christmas festivities in Prague. The event, which has an eleven year tradition, was the brainchild of a Spanish priest and missionary who came to Prague 13 years ago. Priest Alberto Geraldo aimed to bring a spiritual note to a holiday that has become increasingly consumer driven and, at the same time, to help the needy.

The Czech Republic currently has several institutions that promote it abroad. CzechInvest and CzechTrade, for example, focus on business and economics. CzechTourism is self-explanatory, and the country's numerous Czech Centres around the world mainly concentrate on culture. But the work of these agencies has never been co-ordinated. Until now that is. On Wednesday the government announced that Czech-Canadian Otto Jelinek is to become the country's first International Co-ordinator for Economic Activities.

The Czech Republic has a large Roma minority who live very much on the margins of society. But estimating the size of that minority is - and the effectiveness of government measures to lift them out of social exclusion - has always been a difficult task. The week the government announced plans for an anonymous monitoring scheme to make that picture clearer. Czeslaw Walek is the head of the Government Council for Roma Affairs; my colleague Rob Cameron asked him why the government had decided on the scheme.

Over the past decade and a half Czechs have spent a lot of money improving their homes - new furniture, new electronics and new materials have changed interiors beyond recognition. However changing the exterior has not always proved as easy. A third of all Czechs live in pre-fabricated blocks of flats built in the communist era, many of which are now the worse for wear. Now, the European Union has promised to help fund their renovation.