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This evening sees the grand opening of the third annual Prague Bollywood Festival - a celebration of Indian film that brings the colourful sights and sounds of the Indian subcontinent to the Czech Republic. This year the festival begins at the arthouse Aero cinema in Zizkov before moving on to the Kino Svetozor off Wenceslas Square. So is Bollywood slowly winning the hearts and minds of the Czech people? Rob Cameron spoke to organiser Sangita Shresthova to find out.

Intended as a one-off meeting of intellectuals and activists from around the globe, the Forum 2000 conference has become a veritable Prague institution. Founded in 1996 by former Czech president Vaclav Havel, the Japanese philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, the theme of this year's conference is "Conflict and Coexistence".

The upper house of Parliament on Thursday approved a bill that would ban propagation of Nazism and Communism in the Czech Republic. Anyone caught violating the ban could be sentenced to up to eight years in prison. Although the bill stands little chance of becoming law, it has evoked many questions: primarily why wasn't the issue confronted 16 years ago, immediately after the fall of Communism.

Viktor Kozeny, the so-called Pirate of Prague, is currently sitting in a police cell in his adopted home of the Bahamas, after being arrested by the FBI. On Thursday US federal prosecutors charged him and two other men with participating in a scheme to bribe senior government officials in Azerbaijan over lucrative oil privatisation deals. He now faces extradition to the U.S. But as Rob Cameron reports, Czech investors who say they were defrauded by Mr Kozeny have little hope of seeing their money again.

It's make or break time for the Czech football team: on Saturday they face the Netherlands in the first of two crucial qualifying games for next year's World Cup, a competition they last reached way back in 1990. If the Czechs beat Group 1 leaders Holland, and Finland next Wednesday, they could secure themselves an automatic World Cup place. But several important players are out injured and it won't be easy. I caught up with Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech at the team's Prague hotel, and asked him if he and his teammates were nervous ahead of the big

Exhibitions, author readings and book signings, free Internet and a general amnesty on late fees for patrons with overdue books - yes, it's Libraries Week once again in the Czech Republic.

For five years now the Tyrsuv Dum - a magnificent Renaissance Palace in Prague's Lesser Quarter - has been the site for the annual Mind Sports Olympiad allowing game-lovers to match their wits at card and board games of all different kinds. This year school children have had the chance to join the general public to have a go at dozens of titles including the popular Citadels, Backgammon, Valley of the Mammoths, and Go. Play lasts from 9 in the morning until 10 at night.

Money problems in the Czech health sector appear to have reached a head. Hundreds of private GPs across the country closed their offices for a one day strike on Thursday, ignoring an appeal from the Prime Minister for them to be patient for a while longer. Doctors say the cash flow problem is worse than ever and late reimbursements from insurance companies are threatening their livelihood.

Every year the Vize (Vision) 97 Foundation of former Czech president Vaclav Havel and his wife Dagmar presents an award for outstanding work in the world of science. This year's winner is one of the world's best known psychologists, Philip Zimbardo. He is famous for his work on behaviour in prisons, and last year sat on the commission investigating the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers. I spoke to Professor Zimbardo at Tuesday's ceremony, and asked him what it meant to receive this award from Mr Havel.

The Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek was in Sweden this week, and he made a most unusual request. He surprised his host, Prime Minister Goran Persson, by asking to borrow the Devil's Bible, one of the artefacts that was stolen by the Swedish army from the Czech lands during the Thirty Years War in the mid 17th century.