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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

With Christmas around the corner the Czech Republic has turned into a one big Christmas market. Christmas trees are now being sold in many streets and before long traditional Christmas carp will appear in big cisterns on street corners, in preparation for the Czech Christmas dinner. Although Christmas decorations have been increasingly influenced by western fashion, natural materials remain the most popular, as can be seen at exhibitions of Nativity scenes to be found in many places around the Czech Republic

The outgoing U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft has been on a short visit to the Czech Republic. Together with the Czech Interior Minister Frantisek Bublan, he agreed there is a need to sign a new agreement between the United States and the Czech Republic regarding the mutual extradition of their citizens.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, much that was known about Africa in the Czech lands and the rest of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was introduced by Bohemia's greatest traveller Emil Holub. A doctor of medicine and natural historian, Holub had a passion for ethnography and exotic animals. He travelled around South and Central Africa in the late nineteenth century, bringing back travelogues, paintings, maps and other important documents. Europeans are well informed about his life and work from numerous exhibitions and lectures given

Ticket sales for the 2005 international Prague Spring music festival opened on Monday.

From an all time high of 42 CZK in 1997, the value of the US dollar against the Czech crown has been plummeting in the last year or so. The mighty greenback is now only worth around 23 CZK.