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No one would question the cultural importance of Prague's Obecni Dum - the city's historic Municipal House dating back to the early 20th century. The famous Art Nouveau building was the site of the proclamation of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918 and was the site for meetings between dissidents including Vaclav Havel and the outgoing communist leadership in November 1989. As a site it is regularly enjoyed by the public for its café, restaurant, exhibition spaces, and famous concert hall. Now, under a new director, Obecni Dum should offer even

Tuesday marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Jan Patocka. Patocka is regarded as one of the most important central European philosophers of the 20th century. But he is perhaps better known today as a moral and intellectual authority behind the Charter 77 protest movement - and the signatory who paid the most dearly, with his life.

Czech TV is currently airing a series by the renowned documentary maker Vaclav Chaloupek that tells the story of a little lynx called Tap. It is being shown in the popular children's bedtime programme Vecernicek and last week featured a hunter firing at Tap and his little companion. This has angered the Czech Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Association. They say the series puts hunters in a bad light and does not mention that a large part of their work is feeding animals and looking after the country's wildlife. I spoke to the association's secretary-general Jaroslav

The Czech Republic joined NATO eight years ago this week, in March 1999. Joining the organization was one of the biggest steps taken by the country in the decade after the fall of communism. But eight years later, support for NATO membership seems to be waning in the Czech Republic.

The Temelin nuclear power plant in South Bohemia has been in operation for over six years and yet its employees have their work cut out for themselves fixing one fault after the next. Since it was launched in October 2000, the plant has seen about forty unplanned shut-downs and eight leakages of radioactive fluid. The most recent leakages occurred last Tuesday and the Tuesday before that. Now, Environment Minister Martin Bursik has called for an investigation and says heads should roll at the state's Nuclear Safety Office.

There are hundreds of churches in the Czech Republic which have turned into ruins over the past few decades. Most of them belong to the Catholic Church, but it seems unable to improve the current situation.

In the past the Eurovision Song Contest has gone a long way towards helping some musical acts become world-famous, among them ABBA, Celine Dion, and Lordi - the monster rock group from Finland who won last year with the rock anthem "Hard Rock Hallelujah". Despite the contest's long history, contestants from the Czech Republic had never before taken part. Until now.

A ruling on Thursday by the Constitutional Court was good news for many towns and villages across the Czech Republic. It enables local authorities to ban prostitution from public areas. In the verdict, the court said the potential harmful effect of publicly offered sexual services on the moral development of children is greater than the freedom of enterprise.

After four years in office President Klaus is the most trusted Czech politician. A poll by the SC&C agency suggests that two thirds of Czechs would like to see him re-elected for a second term presidential elections due next year. But it is not the public who will be electing the next president. That is a task for Parliament, which means that there are conflicting political interests involved. So what are Mr. Klaus' chances of getting re-elected?

March 8th is International Women's Day but there's little to show for it in the Czech Republic. Most Czechs' memories of International Women's Day are restricted to folk songs, drink, red carnations and communist rhetoric. As a result, it has been discarded as a remnant of the past and few people today even notice its existence. The Czech Women's Lobby is now trying to change that and get Czechs to re-embrace the original idea behind International Women's Day. Blanka Knotkova from the Gender Studies Department of Charles University remembers the