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The Czech Institute of International Relations has just published a book on the evolution of Czech foreign policy since the country split from Slovakia in 1993. The book provides an in-depth look at the country's dealings with its foreign neighbours up to the time of EU accession in 2004.

Tens of thousands of Eastern Europeans work in the United Kingdom illegally as seasonal farmhands, in fish-processing factories, on construction sites, in hotels, and the like. Such jobs are in great demand, and swindlers have taken full advantage. A reporter for the BBC recently infiltrated a group who fell victim to false promises of work in the U.K; bogus job mediators — some of them Czech — had been meeting their victims at British airports, taking hefty referral fees, giving contact details for phantom employers — and promptly disappearing,

Last weekend tens of thousands of Iraqi exiles took part in their country's first free elections since 1953, among them members of the Czech Republic's Iraqi community, which numbers around 250. To get the perspective of an Iraqi living in this country, I spoke to Zaidan Muhsin, who is from Baghdad but has been in Prague for 15 years. I asked Mr Muhsin how he viewed last weekend's elections, and the future of Iraq.

Petr Cech, the goalkeeper for the national football team, has crowned a brilliant first season at the English club Chelsea by setting a new Premiership record of minutes gone without conceding a goal; he hasn't let in a goal in an incredible 781 minutes, or almost nine full games.

Twelve years after the break up of the Czechoslovak federation the mood in the two countries has changed radically. The once upbeat Czechs, who were considered a role model for the post communist world in the early 90s, are in a slump, their Slovak neighbours, who risked a lower living standard in return for complete independence are upbeat and optimistic about the future.

State propaganda was widespread in the regimes of the former Soviet Bloc, where people were constantly bombarded with information on how lucky they were to be living in a workers' paradise. Now, a new exhibition called Power of Images, Images of Power has opened in Prague, which is displaying a collection posters from the 20th century promoting the virtues of the communist system.

The Prague High Court on Tuesday upheld a five year jail sentence imposed on the former finance minister Ivo Svoboda and his close aide Barbora Snopkova. Svoboda is the first former Cabinet minister to be served a prison sentence since the fall of communism in 1989.

Any film student or film lover knows something about Czech film of the 1960s. The unforgettable directors of the Czech New Wave, Chytilova, Forman, Nemec, Menzel and many others emerged at that time, creating their very best works. Kate Barrette has more on a comprehensive new book which documents this period of Czech film.

Tuesday was the 15th anniversary of dissolution of the dreaded Communist-era secret police, the Statni bezpecnost, or StB. Formed in 1948, the StB's darkest period was the 1950s, when they were notorious for the cruelty of their interrogations. They kept tens of thousands of Czech and Slovaks under surveillance, and in the 1980s employed around 75,000 informers. I spoke to former Senator and presidential candidate Jaroslava Moserova, whose father was kept in solitary confinement by the StB for 12 long months.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra, one of the world's great orchestras, has announced the name of its new Chief Conductor. It is Jiri Belohlavek, one of the most acclaimed Czech conductors, who is to replace the American Leonard Slatkin at the helm of the orchestra next year.