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What you're hearing is the Czech national anthem "Kde domov muj" -"Where is my homeland". This Tuesday marks the 170th anniversary since the song was composed. The music was by Frantisek Škroup, a strong advocate of Czech national music at the time, and both the words and music of the song come from the opening scene of the opera "Fidlovacka". Martin Mikule looks at its history.

The Czech Republic is one of the biggest beer drinking nations in the world. But among Czech women, wine is becoming ever more popular. Beer has taken second place after "vinny strik", wine diluted with water, because it is good, affordable, and a little classier. But wine growers say this year's production will be much lower than average.

Fifty thousand visitors have seen a unique travelling exhibition showing the history of Czech translations of the Bible. It is now on display in the northern town of Usti nad Labem before it moves to Hungary at the start of next year.

A special ceremony was held in Prague's National Library on Thursday to present diplomas to Iraqis who had just completed a course in restoration work at a special school in Litomysl. The course was organised as part of the Czech Republic's contribution to the reconstruction effort in Iraq.

Many people from Prague's large ex-pat community would balk at the idea of having a carp for Christmas dinner. In places like Ireland and England, the fish is hardly ever eaten as it's considered to be a "dirty" animal. Luckily for many ex-pats, the British-owned Robertson's Butchers has now been supplying meat products that are very common in other countries on the Prague market as well. This includes providing turkeys and hams for people's Christmas dinners.

The Lower House of Parliament on Wednesday approved the state budget for 2005. It envisages a deficit of over 80 billion Czech crowns (2,700 million euros), a figure which just falls short of the EU requirement that the gap in spending should not exceed 3% of GDP.

For those of you living in Prague with children, there is always something interesting to do at Toulcuv dvur, an environmental education centre for children. The aim of the centre is to teach children and their families about living in harmony with nature. Geese, sheep, goats and pigs are a few of the farm animals that can be found on site. They have over forty original programs about animals and the environment. Moreover, they highlight Czech folk traditions which are very much connected to rhythms of the natural world. This month they have been

With so much discussion under way in Europe over Turkey's ambitions to join the European Union, the Czech Republic has also engaged in the debate. The Czech government supports Turkey's ambitions, and Czech Euro-MPs confirmed this support on Wednesday. But how do Czechs back home feel? Would they support Turkey joining the European Union? Here are a couple of views from people in the streets of Prague.

Gipsy is a young Czech Romany rapper whose latest album is called "Ya Favourite CD Rom", with Rom a play on the Czech word for a Romany. Radio Prague caught up with Gipsy this week, and he told us about his relationship to Romany culture, his plans and - of course - his music.

There are over 30,000 Vietnamese living in the Czech Republic and according to estimates some 3,500 are involved in business. Many work at the Vietnamese-run open-air markets familiar all over the Czech Republic, selling everything from underwear to electronics. There have been several occasions when customs officers have discovered and confiscated counterfeit merchandise at these markets, and sometimes these raids have even led to violent clashes with the vendors. To prevent this sort of problem, a new initiative has just been launched in