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Many in the Czech Republic considered it "case closed" when a Prague appeals court last September confirmed the Roman Catholic Church's ownership of Prague's famous St Vitus cathedral. At the time it appeared the ruling had brought to an end a prolonged legal battle between the Church and state. More than 50 years after St Vitus was confiscated under the communists, it was returned to the Church. But its renewed ownership didn't last long: on Friday the Supreme Court annulled all earlier rulings, returning the cathedral to the state and the legal

The 'Masopust' - or Carnival - in Prague's Zizkov quarter is set to come to a climax on Tuesday. 'Masopust' always takes place towards the end of winter, before the start of Lent. And though many Czechs no longer celebrate it, the tradition of 'Masopust' is slowly making a comeback. The Zizkov Town Hall has been organizing its own carnival for 14 years.

Environment Minister Martin Bursik won two big battles this weekend. At a Green Party national convention, he went a long way towards persuading his colleagues to support the stationing of a US radar system on Czech territory. He was also re-elected chairman and his most loyal colleagues his deputies. But while Mr Bursik celebrates, his party faces a barrage of criticism.

The country of Nepal has around 29 million inhabitants. At least one third of the population lives below the poverty line and cannot afford medical treatment. But a new clinic has just opened in Kathmandu that hopes to make a difference. The International Human Diastyle Free Clinic was opened by Czechs and Slovaks who visited the country as tourists and wanted to help.

President Vaclav Klaus and his wife Livia have just ended a four day official visit to Japan. The presidential couple had a packed agenda and did not break their pace even when the president's aircraft failed to take off on a planned flight from Tokyo to Hiroshima. Although the unexpected technical failure necessitated a last-minute change of plans - it did not detract from the overall success of the Japanese visit.

Thursday 15 was Fat Thursday, the last Thursday before the fasting period of Lent, as celebrated in Italy, German and Poland, for example. According to tradition, one is supposed to eat large quantities of food, which is forbidden during Lent. Even though not traditionally celebrated in the Czech Republic, the day marked the beginning of "Bohemian Carnevale", a festival which is trying to revive Renaissance carnival traditions in the heart of Central Europe.

In the 1920s and 30s the actors Jiri Voskovec and Jan Werich became legendary for their bitingly satirical songs that parodied the politics of the time in the tense years leading up to the war. Their "Osvobozene divadlo" - or "Liberated Theatre" - is remembered and loved to this day. During the wartime occupation the two men escaped to America, but then their careers took very different directions. Werich returned home, and took roles in several well-known films of the 50s and 60s, while Voskovec decided to stay in the States. Against the odds

The dreaded StB secret police were disbanded on February 15 1990, less than three months after the start of the Velvet Revolution. But only now have the authorities come up with an adequate system of allowing the public access to StB files, in a new project called Open Past (Otevrena Minulost). But the Interior Ministry still has some way to go - of an estimated 17 km of files, only 3.5 percent has been thoroughly processed so far.

For many decades, lynxes, wolves and bears have been very rare in the Czech Republic. Over the last 20 years their numbers have been decreasing even more rapidly. One of the obvious reasons is disappearing habitat through the clearance of woodlands. However, these three wild species have to face one more serious problem: poachers. In the last 20 years, around 500 lynxes plus several wolves and bears have died at the hands of illegal hunters, who regard them as trophy kills.

Prague's Ruzyne Airport was put on a high terrorism alert on Wednesday evening after the police received a warning from an unidentified psychic about an alleged terrorist attack. The woman claimed to have had a vision of shooting and bloodshed at Ruzyne although she had no idea when the attack would take place.