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It's been over two weeks since the Czech elections heralded a result no one really wanted: an election deadlock. The victorious Civic Democrats and their likely coalition allies could only muster a total of 100 seats—still one short of a majority in the lower house. Meanwhile, the second-place finishers, the Social Democrats, were saying that they would refuse to support a coalition of the Civic Democrats, the Christian Democrats, and the Greens. But there seems to have been a shift in thinking now.

Czech landlords are celebrating Monday's verdict at the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that Poland's system of rent control violated the rights of Polish property owner Maria Hutten-Czapska. The Court ordered the Polish state to pay her 50,000 euros in compensation, after agreeing that the state-controlled rent in her property was so low she couldn't afford to maintain the building. Czech property owners have themselves filed some 3,000 complaints with the Court, in a legal campaign co-ordinated by the Prague-based Movement for the

Czech-born writer Milan Kundera is easily one of the most recognisable and more respected names in contemporary European literature, whose work has been translated into many different languages. The irony is that none of his latest work - since Mr Kundera now writes solely in French - has ever been translated into Czech. That apparently provoked one anonymous fan to translate one of the later novels, "Identity" and release it on the Internet.

Just two weeks after elections here in the Czech Republic, neighboring Slovaks went to the polls this past Saturday. From a comparative perspective, there are several interesting highlights: for one, the Communist Party in Slovakia won only 3.8% of the vote, not enough to make it into parliament. And while voter turn-out in the Czech Republic was surprisingly high at 64%, Slovakia saw a historically low election turn-out of 54%. Yet, as analysts predicted, the Social Democratic SMER Party led by Robert Fico won the Slovak elections with 29% of

On Saturday the sad news was announced that "the First Lady of Czech jazz", Vlasta Pruchova, had died in Prague after a long illness. Until a few years ago she appeared regularly at Prague jazz clubs, alongside some of the most talented Czech musicians, and her latest album came out just this year.

Thursday was World Elder Abuse Day, drawing attention to the rarely discussed issue of the mistreatment of senior citizens. The day was marked in the Czech Republic by a special reading on the subject - featuring the emotional testimonies of victims and witnesses - and a panel discussion. Michael Longaro was there.

On Thursday morning, sad news reached the Czech Republic from neighboring Slovakia: Jan Langos, whom Czechs remember as the first post-communist Interior Minister, was killed in a car crash. Mr. Langos was 59. Jan Langos' life was a tapestry of activity, both before the revolution of 1989, and after.

Czechs and Slovaks spent 80 years in a common state, though the countries' fates have often diverged since the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993. But now, by coincidence, just two weeks after elections here in the Czech Republic, voters in Slovakia go to the polls this Saturday. Early elections were called in February after the Christian Democrats left the centre-right government of Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda.

All eyes are on the World Cup in Germany at the moment, and while the Czech Republic and the hosts could face each other in the quarterfinals, the two countries' diplomats have already clashed, after Germany turned away some Czech fans travelling to the World Cup at the border.

The United Islands music festival, which starts in Prague on Friday, is one of many such fests taking place in the Czech Republic over the summer months. Outside the capital there are big festivals in Trutnov and Cesky Brod, as well as numerous smaller ones, ranging from hip hop camps to folk music gatherings.