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A visit to the doctor or dentist might strike fear into the heart of you or I, but not Czechs. According to a study released on Monday, Czechs visit their GPs on average some 15 times a year. This is almost twice as often as their neighbours in Germany and Austria. The study, which was commissioned by the Czech government, compared the Czech Republic to five other Central European nations, as well as Holland and Switzerland, who had already conducted such research. The findings? That the Czech Republic tops them all when it comes to waste and inefficiency

It has become something of a tradition every autumn for game lovers in Prague to match wits in at the annual Mind Sports Olympiad. The event, which draws hundreds of players, is held at Tyrsuv Dum, a stately palace in the city's Mala Strana (Lesser Quarter). This year visitors will even have the chance to try a number of new Czech releases.

Excessive red-tape and arrogant civil servants have long been a problem in the Czech Republic. A recent study conducted by the Prague-based Westminster Agency indicated that little has changed in this respect in the last 18 years. The agency says that it is not the performance of civil servants that's at the core of the problem - it is their attitude and the fact that little has been done to change it.

The Chamber of Deputies stripped Communist MP Josef Vondruska of immunity on Wednesday. Mr Vondruska will now face criminal charges in connection with his job as a prison guard in 1980s. Several political prisoners who served their jail time under Mr. Vondruska have accused him of brutality and abuse of power. The case will now be investigated by the police and Mr Vondruska could go to prison for up to ten years.

As China's economy goes from strength to strength, the country is also making great efforts to promote its language and culture across the world. In just three years, China has opened branches of its Confucius Institute in over 70 countries around the world. The first Confucius Institute in the Czech Republic was opened on Wednesday at Palacky University in Olomouc. I spoke to the head of the centre David Uher and started by asking him whether it was the university's own initiative or whether it was the Chinese who approached them.

It may sound hard to believe, but a Czech neo-Nazi group has acquired a permit to hold a march through Prague's historic Jewish quarter. What's really incredible is the date the far-right group's demonstration is set to take place: the anniversary of the notorious Nazi pogrom known as Kristallnacht. And to cap it all, the Prague Town Hall seems to have no legal means of stopping the march.

For some time now officials in Brussels have criticized the Czech Republic for a lack of know-how when it comes to drawing on EU funds. Belated or botched applications could cost the country millions of euros in lost funds, paralyzing important research and development programmes. The first head rolled on Tuesday, when Education Minister Dana Kuchtova announced she was resigning in connection with a poorly drafted bid for EU funding.

Next February the Czech Republic is set to choose a new president. Both houses of the country's parliament will take part in a secret vote to decide if Vaclav Klaus remains in office, or if the country gets a new president. But will that be the last such vote? The idea of a direct vote by the public has been discussed many times over the years. What are the chances of that becoming reality any time soon? Direct presidential elections was the subject of a debate at the Senate on Wednesday.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus took the opportunity to discuss one of his favourite topics on Monday, when he spoke at the first ever conference on climate change at the United Nations. For some time now Mr Klaus has been challenging received wisdom on global warming, saying mankind is not to blame for rises in temperature, and downplaying both the extent and impact of such increases. But the president's speech in New York was notable for the absence of the fiery language with which he has previously attacked environmentalists.

Over the course of a decade, the film director Pavel Koutecky shot 45 hours' of unique behind-the-scenes footage of former president Vaclav Havel, at work and at play, from picking his way through Machiavellian post-election negotiations to giving restaurant tips to the Rolling Stones. Pavel Koutecky died in a tragic accident last year, but the film - called Citizen Havel - is now in post-production, and will premiere in the Czech Republic in January. On Monday there was a sneak preview of the working version at Prague's MAT cinema, where we spoke