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With their dark ambient sounds, the Slovenian band Laibach are not exactly what you would call "mainstream" music. Not surprisingly, therefore, they are one of the headliners at a major alternative music festival, which started in Prague this week. We have taken a look at what the event has to offer.

Nova Skola is a local non-governmental organisation here in the Czech Republic that runs an annual competition called Romano Suno, or Romany Dream, aimed at giving Romany children the opportunity to express themselves in their own language. In the programme children are encouraged through co-operating schools, orphanages and other institutions to send in their stories and drawings, resulting in a final selection and a final volume published in three languages: Romany, Czech, and English. Categories include stories from varying age groups - from

What you're hearing is the arrival of a train on Prague's "C" line - part of the city's busy but highly reliable metro network used by tens of thousands of Czech commuters every single day. Soon, two new stations will open extending the "C" line into the city's Kobylisy district, joining a northern district of Prague that was largely cut off. Jan Velinger went along to a preview of the two new stations - and joins us in the studio now to tell us how it went...

The lower house of the Czech Parliament on Tuesday started a session to debate the details of the state budget for 2004. Although the overall framework has been set, the legislators will now be able to move money between individual chapters. Yet the future of the bill is uncertain as it hinges on the approval of a package of fiscal reforms.

This week, Czech Radio was proud to announce the winner of the 38th International Radio Competition for Young Musicians. Concertino Praga took place over the weekend in Southern Bohemia, where twenty-six young candidates from thirteen countries came to present their abilities to the audience and spectators through radio and television broadcasting. The winner of the main prize - fifteen year-old violinist Hellen Weiss from Germany.

Iva Pekarkova is one of the best known younger Czech novelists. You might have heard of her novel that appeared in English as "Gimme the Money", inspired by her experiences as a New York taxi driver. For her latest book, published last week, Iva has once again left the Czech Republic, this time for the huge West African state of Nigeria. Najdza - hvezdy v srdci" - stars in your heart - is a fascinating travelogue based on her African experience. She told David Vaughan how she came to write the book.

American Voices Abroad - a group of American expatriate communities opposed to the foreign and domestic policies of the Bush administration - met in Prague at the weekend. Guests at the event included former UN weapons inspector, Scott Ritter. We went along to the meeting to find out more and assess the local reaction to the event.

2003 has been designated as the European Year of People with Disabilities. Although there have been a number of campaigns this year to bring awareness to the every day problems faced by people with disabilities, organisations around the country still point to a certain lack of tolerance in Czech society. One such organisation is Prosaz. Since 1999, it has been providing legal, medical, and social assistance to people in wheelchairs with the main objective to integrate them into society. Together with Czech Radio's Radiozurnal, it has thought up

On Thursday the world celebrated the arrival of this year's Beaujolais Nouveau. The Czech Republic was no exception, but the country also has it's own equivalent of this great French wine institution.

Amidst growing fear of terrorist attacks and weapons of mass destruction, NATO is setting up a 500 strong multinational battalion specialized in nuclear, biological and chemical detection. The Czech Republic, a respected international authority in this field, has been given a lead role in setting up the unit, ensuring its action capability and being in command in the first year of its existence.