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Only a week after 27-year old Vladko Dobrovodsky collected the first prize, worth some 450,000 dollars, in the Czech Republic's first TV reality show, he was given another present by the country's lawmakers - when they approved a bill allowing for registered partnerships of same-sex couples. Vladko never hid the fact he is gay and in a serious relationship. If the bill becomes a law, Vladko and his boyfriend say they will enter into a registered partnership.

Talks between European Union leaders dragged on into the early hours of Saturday morning, but at 2.30 am, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair emerged with news for awaiting journalists. Against the odds, all 25 EU members had managed to hammer out a budget framework for the period 2007 to 2013. There were sighs of relief all round, not least from Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek. Under earlier proposals the Czech Republic had been one of the countries set to lose out in Britain's budget reform plans. David Vaughan was following the talks.

European Union leaders meet in Brussels on Friday for a summit dominated by the EU's budget. Indeed talks on the EU's finances are expected to be so tough there will be no room for anything else - certainly there will be little time for negotiations on the transition periods that prevent new members from free access to the EU's labour markets. But the free movement of labour remains uppermost in the new members' minds.

He's one of the greats of classical music and you wouldn't expect him to get mixed up in politics. Yet, more than 200 years after his death Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is at the centre of a dispute between the far-right Austrian Freedom Party and the Czech tourist agency Czechtourism.

The Interior Ministry has announced plans to reform its network of information offices in foreign countries, as part of the government's attempts to fight on illegal immigration. Existing offices will concentrate on explaining on how migrants can work legally in the Czech Republic. Rob Cameron has more.

The Carribean island nation of Haiti is the poorest country in the western Hemisphere, and has been plagued by political unrest for most of its history. Over one thousand people have been kidnapped in the former French colony this year alone. Among them was a Czech missionary - who was lucky to escape with his life.

Iraqis have been taking part in landmark elections in their country to elect the first full-term government, and Iraqis in the Czech Republic, too, have taken part. On Wednesday 82 of them travelled to Vienna by busses provided by the Foreign Ministry, in order to support of the democratic process. A little earlier we spoke to Ahmed Ghlim - the spokesman for the Iraqi Forum in the Czech Republic, who has lived in the Czech Republic for 26 years. He told Radio Prague about his feelings on the vote.

Probably the most exotic inhabitant of the Czech Republic's deep pine forests is fighting a losing battle for survival. The Czech lynx is a frequent target of illegal hunters, and despite heightened efforts to protect the breed, its numbers have dwindled to several dozen specimens. Environmentalists have now come up with a surprising plan that should help to save not only the lynx, but also bears and wolves living in the mountain regions. They are relying on King Kong to help them out.

The horrors of the July 7 London bombings are still fresh in our minds. Ten years after the nerve gas attacks on Tokyo's underground railway, the bombs in London showed that public transport systems around the world are still an easy target for terrorists.

The Christmas markets in Prague may be packed but that's not the only business that's booming. This is also the peak season for toy shops. Do Czech children want toys? We went along to a Prague elementary school and asked a Grade 3 class.