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Czech TV viewers are in for something of a comedy treat this evening as the cult British TV show The Office makes its debut on Czech Television. The programme - a mock documentary set in an office in Slough, England - has won a string of international awards and has been shown in dozens of countries around the world. But only now, six years after it first appeared on the BBC, is the programme - called "Kancl" in Czech - being shown here.

This time two weeks US President George Bush will be here in Prague to attend a conference on democracy and security. The American leader will also discuss the planned building of a US radar base in central Bohemia with senior Czech politicians, during a visit that is expected to last a day and a half. A number of anti-Bush protests have already been announced, and we can expect the kind of security operation rarely seen in the Czech capital.

As the summer approaches many Czechs have begun planning their holidays, and those keen on travelling abroad couldn't choose a better time than now. The weakening US dollar, dropping tour prices, and above all higher spending power have all had an impact. In short, many vacations abroad for Czechs have never been cheaper.

Last week was no doubt an important one for Czech mountaineering fans: two Czech climbers in separate expeditions conquered Mt Everest: at 8,848 metres the world's tallest peak. Klara Polackova made headlines first last Wednesday, when she become the first Czech female to summit Everest and two days later the peak was reached by the highly-prolific Pavel Bem, Prague's lord mayor.

The case of the little boy abused by his mother is beginning to have political ramifications, two weeks after the seven-year-old was found bound and naked in a broom cupboard. Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek says he wants new legislation to improve the protection of children, while the education minister is calling for tighter controls over home schooling in the Czech Republic.

Experts predicted that a new record could be set on Sunday when a work by the Czech-born abstract artist Frantisek Kupka was going under the hammer in Prague. They were right: the oil on canvas was sold to an anonymous bidder for 13.4 million crowns (around 642,500 dollars), a price that would have been unthinkable on the Czech market a decade ago.

A hospital in West Bohemia experienced a dramatic night this week when its generators gave way during a local blackout. Medical staff manually operated life-saving equipment for two long hours and managed to save all 300 patients. The local governor has now ordered a detailed report on why the hospital's emergency power supply failed.

It is one of the most shocking cases in Czech criminal history - eight year old Ondra was found naked, bound and dehydrated in a cupboard under the stairs, abused by his own mother, Klara Mauerova, a single mother taking care of three children. It then emerged that Ondra's thirteen year old sister Anna was a child without an identity whom Klara had taken under her wing. All three children were placed in a children's home from which Anna mysteriously disappeared.

Cracks seem to be appearing in the three-party ruling coalition over a number of issues, but are they deep enough to cause a real crisis? A gulf seems to be opening up between the Green Party and their coalition allies - the Civic Democrats and the Christian Democrats. But with a vote on crucial tax reforms due in early June, the coalition has no choice but to maintain a semblance of unity.

The dispute surrounding the Temelin nuclear power plant in South Bohemia is very much back on the agenda. Last week Austrian anti-nuclear demonstrators blockaded a number of border crossings, the latest in a series of protests. They say they will close down the entire border if the Austrian government fails to file an international lawsuit against the Czech Republic over Temelin. This week Vienna sent a diplomatic note to Prague, protesting at what Austria claims is the Czechs' failure to comply with the 2000 Melk Agreement on safety at Temelin.