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Santa's on his way and this year he's having to make many a stop over at private clinics to pick up gift certificates for bigger breasts, longer hair or liposuction treatments. The things people want for Christmas follow western trends and while five years ago the ultimate gift was a holiday in the Caribbean, now people want a gorgeous new body to take there.

One of the most outstanding Czech fighters against Nazi rule during the war, General Rudolf Pernicky, has passed away at the age of 90. A former paratrooper who was later jailed by the Communist authorities and rehabilitated only after the fall of the regime in 1989, died on Wednesday after a long illness in the Central Military Hospital in Prague.

Czech Television have announced that it's axing its popular satirical TV show Bez Obalu - which loosely translates as Unwrapped. Many observers immediately cried foul, pointing to the frequent complaints from politicians and claiming Bez Obalu had become a victim of political pressure. But that's not the view held by the show's creators, among them journalist Milos Cermak.

The lower house approved landmark legislation on Tuesday which would phase out the controversial system of regulated rents. The bill, if it is approved by the Senate and signed by the president, would see sharp rent rises in some 700,000 rent-controlled flats.

Every year, almost a million Christmas trees are sold in the Czech Republic. Soon after the holidays people throw them away and the trees have to be disposed of as waste. For the sixth year running, environmentalists in Brno are offering people the chance to buy live Christmas trees which can be replanted outdoors after Christmas. Also, they've chosen one particular type of conifer, once plentiful in the Czech lands but now on the verge of extinction.

The cries of little Do have won the hearts of children's ward staff at a hospital in the North Bohemian town of Most. Do was born prematurely and had to spend months in an incubator. He suffers from a high blood sugar level and has to undergo eye surgery. His parents are from Vietnam but have been living in the Czech Republic for several years now. When Do was born, his parents weren't Czech citizens and due to Czech law, their son had no health insurance.

Strolling through Christmas markets around the Czech Republic, you can find various Czech traditional sweets. Gingerbread men are probably the most typical ones but more and more often one can come across what's known as Stramberske usi or "Stramberk ears" - cone-shaped gingerbread cookies with a bloodstained history.

Just four days left to Christmas and no doubt many of you are still desperately running around the shops trying to do the last of your Christmas shopping. This year Czechs are borrowing more than ever to buy presents for their nearest and dearest - according to some figures Czechs will borrow some 415 billion crowns from banks alone.

There was great excitement when a baby gorilla was born in Prague Zoo exactly a year and a week ago today, the first time ever a gorilla was born in the Czech Republic. It's a girl, the zoo announced proudly, and gave the baby primate the Swahili name, Moja, meaning "the first".

Prague's Wenceslas Square is the best known thoroughfare in the Czech Republic, and the site of many key moments in the nation's history. But today Wenceslas Square is perhaps not the best of advertisements for the Czech Republic, having earned a reputation for crimes such as drug dealing and prostitution. Now Prague City Hall has launched a campaign to clean it up.