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This week one of the world's most celebrated children's authors and illustrators is in his native Prague to launch a new book, The Tree of Life, about the life and trials of famous naturalist Charles Darwin. The illustrator is none other than Peter Sis, who has lived in the U.S. since the early 80s. We'll be profiling Mr Sis' work in next week's edition of Czechs Today, but we wanted to offer listeners something of a preview.

A new Czech TV documentary shows that old age does not have to be a time of loneliness. The Charles Jordan senior citizens' home in Prague helps residents to regain a sense of community and self. What's even more remarkable is the fact that the home's residents share a common heritage and most of them share a tragic past: they all lost someone in the Holocaust and themselves survived the horrors of the camps.

The Czech football team have gotten off to a poor start in their campaign to reach the 2006 World Cup, losing 2:0 to the Netherlands in Amsterdam. The two countries have met several times in recent years, but there was no danger of over-familiarity on Wednesday night: the Czechs fielded a makeshift midfield, in the absence of captain Pavel Nedved and other old hands Smicer, Galasek and Poborsky, while Holland's new manager has ditched most of their squad from Euro 2004.

On December 8th 1999, the Czech Parliament adopted a law which established an Ombudsman or Public Defender of Rights. But while many Czechs have been making use of this service, few foreigners are aware that they too have the right to ask the ombudsman for assistance. To reach more foreigners and inform them on what the ombudsman's office has done so far, a press conference was held in Brno this week.

The Prague Symphony Orchestra began its annual concert season yesterday with a special gala concert on the Old Town Square. The reason for this unusual open-air event was to celebrate the orchestra's 70th birthday, and perhaps also to bring classical music to people who don't necessarily frequent concert halls.

Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda is to visit Germany this Thursday. Before leaving he said that he would support the idea of the Czech government breaking a long-held taboo and making a "humanitarian gesture" towards the German minority living in the Czech Republic. This would take the form of symbolic financial compensation to a small number of Czech Germans, who actively resisted Nazism, during the Second World War.

Lenka Smidova made a little bit of history recently, when she took the Czech Republic's first ever Olympic medal in sailing, a silver in the "Europe" category. Since returning from Athens, Lenka - who spends nine months of the year on the sea in various parts of the world - has been enjoying some time at home, attending numerous events celebrating her success. I spoke to the Olympic medal winner in Prague on Tuesday, and asked her if she had been confident of success ahead of the Athens Games.

On Wednesday evening the Czech football team begin their campaign to reach the 2006 World Cup with an away game against the Netherlands. Before the squad left for Amsterdam, I spoke to Milan Baros, who became a world star this summer when he became the top scorer at the European Championships in Portugal. I began by asking the 22-year-old striker whether he and his team mates had been aware of the football mania here in the Czech Republic during Euro 2004.

Burma's prime minister in exile, Sein Win, is on a visit in Prague, his third trip to the Czech Republic. He was first here a few years ago when his fellow dissident Nobel Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi received a special prize from the Charles University. Now he is continuing in his battle to return democracy to Burma. As well as meeting Czech politicians he also gave a lecture at the Charles University.

Prince Andrew, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, were just three of the people met by the Czech President, Vaclav Klaus and his wife Livia, when they flew to London at the beginning of this week. In a short visit they also found time to talk to Czechs living in Britain, who they described as 'the Czech Republic's real ambassadors'. The visit was largely ceremonial, but Mr Klaus is a politician at heart and he did also take the opportunity to express some of his ideas about Europe. Radio Prague spoke to Czech Radio's correspondent