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Christian Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Cunek, who is suspected of having taken a half a million crown bribe while he served as mayor of Vsetin, is sinking deeper into trouble. Several of his chief witnesses have been accused of perjury -and the Prime Minister's patience with Mr Cunek appears to be at an end. However dismissing his deputy is proving harder than one might expect.

When Hugo Ball and Emmy Hennings launched the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich in February 1916, they set into motion a process that was to cause a revolution in European art, writing and theatre. This was the beginning of Dada. The Dadaists described their work as 'anti-art', defying the prevailing artistic conventions of the time and passionately opposing the First World War. Several of Dada's founding proponents had roots in Romania, but what is less well known is that Dada also had a number of intriguing Czech connections. This is to be one of the

Czech doctors are sounding alarm bells over unscientific treatment of serious illnesses. The Czech Medical Chamber has just released a list of selected alternative medicine practices on its website as part of a text called "The Risks of Alternative Medicine in Cancer Treatment". The organisation says it wants to warn patients against the unrealisable promises of "healers".

The Civic Democrat Justice Minister Jiri Pospisil has presented the draft of a new penal code. For the next three months the text of the legislation will be available on the ministry's website for the public to read. Anyone with ideas is invited to mail their comment to the ministry which has promised to incorporate all justified comments in the new penal code.

It came as no surprise on Wednesday but that took no edge of the news: the European Commission's issuing of a warning to the Czech Republic for not doing enough to rein in its public deficit. With an increase in expenditures the Czech Republic is set this year to miss the EU's mark of keeping the deficit below 3 percent of the GDP as part of its convergence requirements.

The Czech government is being forced to address a serious problem. Following a decline in the birth rate after the fall of communism hundreds of crèches and kindergartens closed down. Now, the trend has turned - young women in their thirties are having babies - but they find that when they are ready to go back to work they have nowhere to place their children.

The Czech football team are preparing for their last game before the summer, a Euro 2008 qualifier against Wales this Saturday. That match will be the end of a long season for goalkeeper Petr Cech, who underwent shoulder operations last summer and then suffered a life-threatening head injury in October. Cech made an unusually swift recovery, but despite his return Chelsea failed in their bid to win four competitions, ending up with "just" the English league and FA cups. How does Cech himself see the season?

Prague Zoo proudly announced a new arrival on Wednesday morning. A baby gorilla was born shortly after midnight, only the second gorilla ever born in captivity in the Czech Republic. Both mother and baby are healthy and Zoo staff have breathed a sigh of relief: only six weeks ago another female gave birth to a stillborn child and nearly died herself during labour.

Health officials have been put on alert after learning that an American man who flew from Prague to Montreal last Thursday was carrying a highly dangerous strain of tuberculosis. A number of passengers on the Czech Airlines flight are to undergo medical tests to make sure they haven't become infected, although Czech officials say the chances of the infection spreading to other passengers were low.

England legend Gary Lineker famously described football as a simple game in which two teams of 11 chase a ball for 90 minutes and the Germans always win. Well, here in the Czech Republic it seems it's a sport that Sparta Prague always win - they have just taken the 34th league title in their history. That said, it was far from a routine win for Sparta, with the most dramatic end to the season in many a long year.