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The issue of Holocaust denial hit the headlines again recently due to the highly publicized trial of well-known Holocaust denier David Irving in Austria earlier this year. Here in Prague, this highly controversial topic was recently discussed at a public debate held at the Austrian Cultural Forum.

The Balkan state of Montenegro this week voted for independence from Serbia. Supporters of the break are optimistic that their new nation will eventually join other former communist states like the Czech Republic in the European Union. But at a conference this Tuesday in Prague, experts discussed how now is probably the wrong time for Montenegro or any other nation to join the long line waiting for EU membership.

The Czech Interior Ministry has just launched a campaign aimed at recruiting officers from the ranks of minorities. If it is successful the Czech police force could soon have Romany, Vietnamese or Ukrainian re-enforcements.

This week the people of Prague have a chance to hear Frank Zappa's music, thanks to the efforts of the American rock musician's sons, Ahmet and Dweezil. They have organized a European concert tour called "Tour de Frank", and are performing in honour of their father, who died in 1993. There is a special connection between Frank Zappa and the Czech Republic. Zappa's music belongs to a repertoire once-banned by the communist censors, and Frank Zappa himself gained huge acclaim in Prague following the Velvet Revolution.

Love them or hate them, shopping centres have become very much a fixture of the Czech landscape. If you think there are already too many, get ready for even more. According to a new survey thirteen new malls will be built here by the end of 2007.

The Czech football team are currently at a training camp in Seefeld in the Austrian Tyrol. Pavel Nedved, Jan Koller and Co. are preparing for the World Cup in Germany, where they will play their first game against the USA on June 12th. Just before they left Prague, I spoke to the Czech Republic and Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech; I began by asking him about the form of the Czech players, several of whom have been injured in recent months.

It was a resounding slap that reverberated for hours after it had been dealt. At a meeting of Czech dentists on Saturday Miroslav Macek, a former deputy prime minister in the 1990s and long time adviser to President Vaclav Klaus, walked over to Health Minister David Rath and without warning hit him on the back of the head, starting a fistfight. Macek claims he was settling a personal score with the minister because of insulting remarks he'd made about his wife, but the nature of the attack - at the start of a conference with TV cameras rolling

For nearly all of his term as Foreign Minister, Cyril Svoboda has been trying to attain visa-free relations between the Czech Republic and Canada, and most recently he stepped-up the Czech lobby in the halls of Washington, D.C. But now it seems that the Czech Republic has been upstaged by the Poles, who have the best chance yet of seeing their visa requirements for the United States fall by the wayside.

Surrounded by the charming Brdy Forests in Western Bohemia, Zbiroh Chateau really catches the eye of anyone who visits. With its rich history and impressive Neo-Renaissance architecture, the chateau is one of the most curious in the country. The renowned Czech painter Alfons Mucha painted his famous Slav Epic here, along with much of his other oil based works. During World War II, the castle was occupied by a secret SS division which monitored radio communications all over the world. Now even more of the secrets of this intriguing castle have been

After days of speculation, it's been signed and sealed - a contract that should secure the biggest single foreign investment in the Czech Republic since the fall of communism. Czech government officials on Thursday signed a contract with the South Korean car maker Hyundai on the construction of a major car plant in the eastern part of the Czech Republic. But, behind the smiles and handshakes, there was an air of uncertainty. The absence of Hyundai's chairman Chung Mong Koo - indicted on corruption charges - has evoked speculation as to whether