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Noise pollution plagues millions of people across Europe. An effort to address the problem on European scale has now brought action here in the Czech Republic where an estimated 40 percent of big city dwellers are said to suffer from the problem.

Prague's metro system is often praised by visitors to the city; it is fast, reliable and - with three intersecting lines - unusually easy to navigate. Opened in May 1974, the capital's underground now carries around a million and a half passengers a day. It has been extended several times in recent years - but changes planned for the next half decade or so should be the most radical yet.

There was a huge development in a scandal surrounding a large military contract on Tuesday, when Swedish TV broadcast secretly made recordings of former Czech foreign minister Jan Kavan. He says that Czech politicians took bribes linked to a deal to purchase Gripen supersonic jets from the British-Swedish consortium BAE Systems/Saab. In the end the Czech Republic leased rather than bought the planes, but the allegations remain. And suspicions of corruption have been fanned by Mr Kavan's implication that a Czech police investigation could be

Balancing one's private life and career is a problem faced by people in many parts of the world today. Lifestyles here in the Czech Republic have changed hugely in the last two decades - with work-life balance a new concept to many. So how are Czechs doing when it comes to balancing the two?

The cabinet minister responsible for minorities and human rights, Dzamila Stehlikova, has called for a debate aimed at allowing gay couples to adopt children. In an interview for an internet news server on Monday, the Green Party minister said it would be the right step considering the fact that around 20,000 children are being brought up in institutions in the Czech Republic.

A new exhibition opening at Prague Castle on Wednesday bears the intriguing title Rozhovor se smrti - Interview with Death. It focuses on the life and works of the great late medieval Czech poet and intellectual Bohuslav Hasistejnsky of Lobkovice, but also aims to portray the age he lived in.

Prague's Troja district is one of the city's most luxurious residential areas. It is also the home of Prague Zoo, which after Prague Castle, is the most visited place in the capital. But the district was hit hard by the floods in 2002 and it also boasts two more sites that only a few tourists know about. City Hall is now introducing an ambitious new project that hopes to turn Troja into an attractive place of fun and leisure.

In the east Moravian town of Prerov it must be a curious sight: amateur swimmer Pavel Poljansky walking around town in a t-shirt and shorts in chilly temperatures and training daily in the "freezing" Becva River. Why is he doing it? All in preparation to become the first European to swim across the world's highest lake, Lake Titicaca.

Last week, the first Mene Tekel festival dedicated to the history of totalitarianism in this country was held in Prague to coincide with the anniversary of the communist putsch in 1948. Taking its name from the so-called writing on the wall, which appears in the Bible's Book of Daniel and refers to the counting, considering and punishment of evil deeds, the Mene Tekel festival aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the oppression meted out by the communist regime in this country for more than forty years.

While former dissidents and prisoners of conscience marked the 59th anniversary of the 1948 communist putsch with calls for the communist party to be banned, Communist Party leader Vojtech Filip urged his party to prepare for a new revolution. He said the party must meet the challenges of the present day by re-embracing the Lenin ideology. A contradiction in terms? Commentator Jiri Pehe says that the strange speech reflects the plight of the communists - they are like a dinosaur fighting for survival in the present day.