Current Affairs | All stories

As expected the second round of Senate elections held over the weekend were a triumph for the centre-right Civic Democratic Party headed by Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek. Although his cabinet failed to win a vote of confidence in the lower house over a month ago, his party has now reaffirmed its leading position on the Czech political scene by winning a majority in the upper chamber.

Czechs are voting in the second round of Senate elections this weekend, the results of which are expected to mark a turning point in the country's drawn out political crisis. Although elections to the Senate generally incite little interest -this year they have taken on added significance - they are being viewed as a referendum on the political stalemate brought about by the inconclusive general elections in June, which has prevented politicians from reaching agreement on a stable government.

Countless coffees have been drunk, words written and ideas debated in the Globe, Prague's famous English-language bookstore and cafe. Literati like Alan Ginsberg and Ludvik Vaculik have read there, and it's has become internationally known as a meeting place for backpackers and locals alike.

The Czech Centre on London's Harley Street is quite atypical in that you have to ring a bell to get in and it doesn't have the space for exhibitions, film screenings and the like you find at most Czech Centres. Last week I visited the one in London, where I met its director Ladislav Pflimpfl, and began by asking him if it was actually open to the public.

Bohuslav Horak, the husband of Milada Horakova who was executed after a notorious show trial in 1950, escaped communist Czechoslovakia in 1949 but until now the details have not been known. Fifty-seven years later, the people who helped Bohuslav Horak escape across the Iron Curtain have come forth, and Czech Television has captured the dramatic events as part of its documentary series "Stories of the Iron Curtain."

This week Britain's Home Office announced plans to strongly curb the number of potential migrant workers from Bulgaria and Romania after those countries join the European Union in 2007 - a marked difference compared to the year 2004, when Great Britain left its labour market open to the incoming member countries including the Czech Republic and Poland. Jan Velinger spoke to political analyst Ivo Slosarcik of the think-tank Europeum, asking him what saw as the main reason behind the shift, as well as what the impact might be.

Czech magazines and music channels are full of them - ads for the latest and funniest ring tunes and logos for mobile phones. And Czechs are mobile mad - there are 115 registered numbers for every 100 residents. The first model was introduced to the ordinary citizen fifty years ago. Back then "mobiles" weren't so mobile: they weighed a whopping 40 kg and could only be used in cars.

Just days after taking a beating in the Senate and local elections, the Social Democratic Party has sustained another bad blow. Deputy Michal Pohanka on Wednesday unexpectedly announced his decision to leave party ranks and to withdraw from the Social Democrat deputies' group in the lower house. His defection could mark a shift in the balance of power in the lower chamber which has been deadlocked since June's inconclusive general elections.

The international press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders published their annual "Press Freedom Index" this week, after surveying the media in 168 countries throughout the world. The Czech Republic, surprisingly, ranked fifth - sandwiched between the Netherlands and Estonia. But does this country really boast such a high level of press freedom? Rob Cameron has this report.

On Tuesday the first ever festival of comic art in Prague - KomiksFEST2006 - officially opened at the Svetozor art theater, just a stone's throw from Wenceslas Square. Twelve locations around the city will host KomiksFEST events, which run the gamut from exhibitions of graphic art to movies and plays. The festival highlights the work of Czech artists like Jiri Grus and Karel Jerie, and is designed to attract comics lovers as well as the general public.