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More than 21,000 people are known to have died after a massive underwater earthquake sent giant tidal-waves crashing into coastlines across Southern Asia. Information is still scarce on the fate of tens of thousands of holidaying foreigners, including up to a thousand Czechs. On Monday morning Czech government officials met to coordinate the Czech Republic's aid to the disaster-stricken areas in Southern Asia, and also provide assistance to Czech nationals stranded in the areas.

Fireworks will be going off around the world in just a few days' time. But here in the Czech Republic there are also fears of explosions of a very different kind. No, this time we're not talking about the war on terror, but bombs and other ammunition left over from the Second World War and the time of the communist regime. Old ammunition keeps turning up and is causing a good few headaches.

Toulcuv dvur has a long history and dates back to at least 1362. Under Empress Maria Theresa it was a sheep farm and, more recently, the Communists used it for industrial purposes. Now, though, it is an environmental education centre for children. Here, Nikola Brabenec visits Toulcuv dvur, and finds out you can visit a farm without having to leave Prague.

"Byl jednou jeden kral" — once upon a time, there was a king — the opening line for many a classic fairytale. While all peoples have their folk tales and legends, from the Arabian Nights to the Brothers Grimm and Walt Disney, in few cultures have fairytales won such an honored and beloved a place as they enjoy in the hearts of the Czech people, certainly at Christmas time.

Welcome to a special Christmas Eve programme from Radio Prague. I'm David Vaughan. Continuing a tradition that we started last year, we're going to be meeting members of a school choir here in Prague. They're pupils from the Akademicke Gymnazium, just off Wenceslas Square, one of the oldest grammar schools in the world and a school with a rich tradition. Last year we heard Christmas Carols, but this year we'll bring you something a little different. As the centenary year of the death of the great Czech composer, Antonin Dvorak, draws to a close,

A Czech carp meets a swift end under the club and knife of a Prague seller - one of many on Prague's streets hawking the traditional Christmas fish - ahead of Christmas Eve. The seller, whose name is Josef, tells me Czechs have been eating carp for generations. It simply wouldn't be Christmas without carp on the plate.

For many readers around the world, Josef Lada's illustrations of the Good Soldier Svejk are inextricably linked to the famous character created by Jaroslav Hasek. But Josef Lada did far more than illustrate Hasek's novel, and his idealized paintings of carol singers and family gatherings are for many in this country an enduring symbol of Czech Christmas.

The weather here in Prague isn't looking too Christmassy at the moment - it's cloudy and around 5 degrees Celsius. But can Czechs expect a white Christmas this year? And if not in Prague, how about elsewhere in the country? I spoke to weather forecaster Jan Pavlik, and began by asking what the weather was like in the mountains.

In the lobby of the Czech Radio building on Prague's Vinohradska Street there is a large yellow candle. Many people have come to light their own candles from it. But what is its significance? Martin Mikule explains what the candle means.

Christmas is a religious holiday - marking the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. At the same time, Christmas is widely celebrated in largely agnostic countries like the Czech Republic, as a season for seeking peace, goodwill and understanding. As such, Christmas is a time when religious figures — from many faiths, not just Christian — reach out to each other.