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For many of us life without a personal computer would be unthinkable. Would you believe that the first IBM PC was launched on the world market just 25 years ago this Saturday? In the Czech Republic, an estimated 2.5 million of the country's 10 million inhabitants now own a PC - and some 400,000 personal computers are sold every year. But what was the situation like here a quarter of a century ago, when the PC was a luxury and the Communists were in power? Dita Asiedu spoke to Petr Koubsky of the IT magazine Inside:

Figures just released by the Czech Statistical Office indicate that in spite of the country's drawn out political crisis and the growing price of oil on world markets the country's economy is booming. The Czech Republic is currently the world's sixth biggest exporter, with the highest export figures in Europe.

Last weekend was a momentous one for Czech long-distance swimming: Yvetta Hlavacova set a new women's world record for swimming the English Channel, while David Cech became the first Czech to swim the Channel in both directions. While Cech has been enjoying his success, Hlavacova has surprised many by saying she wants to brave the Channel again in just a few weeks' time.

This week is likely to be a crucial one in deciding the next government, but what kind of a government might it be? The Civic Democrats, who won the election, say that there are only two viable options: their minority government supported across the political spectrum by everyone but the Communists - or early elections. The Social Democrats who came in second, on the other hand, have been pushing for something quite different: some kind of agreement that would see them maintain no small measure of political influence.

Fisherman Ladislav Mervinsky was dumbstruck when he caught a salmon - over a metre in length - in the river Elbe (Labe) close to the Czech-German border in north Bohemia. This is the first time since 1954 that a salmon was caught in the Elbe. Not too long ago, the river was considered one of the dirtiest rivers in Europe. So what's brought the fresh-water fish, known to live in only the cleanest of waters, back to the Elbe? Dita Asiedu reports:

After July's tropical heat most people welcomed the first August showers with relief. But several days of persistent rain have produced a different problem - a wave of floods which started on the exact same date as the devastating floods of 2002.

For some months now there has been speculation about the United States building a new missile base somewhere in Central Europe. Initially analysts tipped Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic as key candidate countries for the base. Hungary now appears to be out of the running and it would seem the chances of a base being built here are increasing - on Sunday the Czech foreign minister, Cyril Svoboda, said it was almost certain Prague would play some part in the project. Richard Krpac, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, explains the latest

Two months after the country's inconclusive general elections negotiations on a new government are back to square one. A centre right coalition between the Civic Democrats, Christian Democrats and Greens was pronounced dead on Friday for lack of support and President Klaus urged the leaders of the two strongest parties on the right and left - the Civic and Social Democrats - to find an alternative solution that would end the drawn-out stalemate.

About 40 children born in the Czech Republic have been adopted into families beyond this country's borders each year since 2000. But now, after the death of a Czech-born child entrusted to the care of a family in Sweden, international adoptions have been temporarily halted until the procedures undergo a review. Petr Sedlak, from the Brno-based Office for the International Legal Protection of Children, explains the history of international adoptions of Czech children.

Exactly 700 years have passed since the last male member of the Bohemian royal dynasty, the Premyslids, died. On August 4, 1306, king Wenceslas III. was murdered in the town of Olomouc at the age of just 16. The death of the young king marked the end of a 450-year Premyslid rule in Bohemia.