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What started out as local spring floods three days ago are now a major cause for concern around the country. Many towns and villages in Moravia, that's the eastern part of the Czech Republic, are underwater. In the southern town of Znojmo ten thousand people have been evacuated from their homes. The floods have already claimed four lives and meteorologists warn that the situation may worsen because of continuing rain.

Last month we reported that the first baby was placed in a "baby box" in Prague - which is a heated place where mothers can give up their unwanted babies anonymously for adoption. The fact that mothers can do so without revealing their identity was the principal idea behind the creation of the baby boxes. Their advocates say that mothers who intend to abandon their children because of a personal crisis will do so anyway and a baby box can save babies from dying out in the cold or being killed at birth. However, the guarantee of anonymity for the

Long distance swimmer Yvetta Hlavacova who set a new Czech record for swimming the English channel in 8 hours and 42 minutes last year has big plans for the future - she wants to swim there and back, challenging the twenty three year old record set by Dutch swimmer Irene Vanderlan who covered the 66 kilometre distance in 18 hours and 15 minutes. Even if she fails to break that record it would be a huge achievement - Hlavacova would become the third European woman to have swum across the channel there and back.

Four years ago the Czech Republic was hit by massive floods which led to mass evacuations and millions in lost property - now, at least in parts of the country, it's happening again. Wednesday evening with the Dyje River rising to dangerous levels, the town of Znojmo in south Moravia ordered the evacuation of more than ten thousand inhabitants.

The building of a major new building for the Czech National Library looks set to be one of the most important architectural projects in Prague this decade. Financing has just been approved by the Czech parliament, which has also agreed to fund extensive renovations to the National Library's current home in the city-centre Clementinum complex.

There is now no doubt at all regarding the incidence of the deadly bird flu in the Czech Republic. Czech tests on a dead swan found in the Vltava River in the south of the country indicate that the bird died of the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus. Meanwhile a second swan sent in for testing a few hours later was found to be infected with the H5 virus, most likely also the H5N1.

After one of the longest winters on record, weather is again the source of problems in the Czech Republic. The brutal cold finally gave way to warmer temperatures this week, bringing record high temperatures on Monday. However, this dramatic change has led to high water levels in many areas of the Czech Republic, including Prague, where the devastating 2002 floods are still fresh in people's minds.

The Czech Republic lost one of the more colourful candidates for the forthcoming parliamentary elections this week, after the Christian Democrats announced that former football manager Frantisek Straka would not be standing for the party in June. Mr Straka, former player and manager at the country's biggest club Sparta Prague, has been withdrawn from the list of candidates after alleged problems over his citizenship.

Experts said it was only a matter of time and they were right. After bird flu had been reported in all of its neighbours, on Monday the Czech Republic finally detected its first case of avian flu in its H5 form in a dead swan. While further tests are being carried out to prove whether the bird was infected with the aggressive H5N1 variety, special measures have come into effect in the area where the dead bird was found.

Last month it came to light that Tesco, the owner of the original Maj building in the centre of Prague, was considering demolishing the famous department store in favour of a newer building. Maj, in its original form, has stood on the corner of Narodni and Spalena Streets since 1975 - and then - as now - is one of Prague's best-known shopping centres. Consequently, many Czechs - but also a number of important architects- say it would be a mistake if the building were pulled down.