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Since the fall of communism the Czech Republic has undergone a complete transformation towards a capitalist economy, visible everywhere from the revitalization of Skoda to the appearance of department stores like Tesco in Prague and Brno. But how is this transition comparable to the economic developments of the past? A new exhibition at Prague's National Museum of Agriculture is hoping to provide visitors with some answers, and to show how trade developed throughout the history of the Czech lands: from humble beginnings to the state of trade

On Wednesday night, Slavia Prague, one of the oldest and most successful Czech football clubs, beat Ajax Amsterdam 2:1 in the second leg of the third - and final - qualification round of the Champions League and advanced to the group stage of the competition, for the first time in history.

Every year close to two thousand people in the Czech Republic are attacked by aggressive dogs. In the past nine years ten people have been mauled to death in such attacks. For years Czech lawmakers, vets and dog psychologists have debated possible ways of curbing this form of violence -but have never been able to agree on a widely acceptable solution. Now, the Constitutional Court has moved to resolve the problem, making dog owners directly responsible for their pets' behaviour.

The Good Soldier Svejk is one of the best known and best loved of Czech literary creations. Enlisted into the Austrio-Hungarian Army during the Great War, Svejk manages by a kind of subversive idiocy to resist actually serving, and spends long periods wandering about in South Bohemia. Now fans can follow in his circuitous footsteps, during a series of "Svejk weekends".

Organic foods have become ever more popular in western countries in recent years, with consumers often willing to pay a little more for increasingly available organic products. Here in the Czech Republic the trend has yet to make much headway, though that could all be about to change: from the start of next year an extensive government campaign is set to inform Czechs about the benefits of organic products and agriculture.

The Foreign Ministry's annual report on Czech arms exports has come under fire from Amnesty International. The international human rights group says that the Czech Republic exports weapons to counties which violate human rights, and claims that there are no guarantees that the weapons will not end up in a third country on which the UN has placed an arms embargo. We put Amnesty International's points to the director of the foreign ministry's department of common, foreign and security policy Vaclav Balek.

Archaeologists from the Museum of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice have been putting together a project to explore an underground level of the famous Cistercian monastery in Vyssi Brod, which houses the final resting place of the monastery's original founders, the Rozmberks. The vault was sealed almost 400 years ago after the death of nobleman Petr Vok - the last in the family line - and was never again reopened. Archaeologists now sense room for discovery.

Prague is renowned as one of the most beautiful and striking cities in Europe, but for those who are blind such beauty is more difficult to appreciate. Now however, a new project offers further possibilities for the visually impaired to experience the city. A map for the blind, launched this week and covering the entirety of the Czech capital's historical centre, has been produced by Prague City Hall in conjunction with blind people's groups. The map is merely the first in a collection that will be completed by the end of 2007, potentially helping

Sumava National Park is one of the Czech Republic's last remaining untouched nature reserves. It stretches some 120 km across south-western Bohemia along the German border and has not been accessible to the public for years. First because of the Iron Curtain during the communist days and later for reasons of nature conservation, when it was declared a national park in 1990. Now, however, the new management of Sumava National Park has announced a new plan to make the "forbidden zones" accessible to public. I asked the park's spokesman Radovan Holub

The possible stationing of a US radar base on Czech territory, as part of an expanded US missile defense system, is causing controversy both at home and abroad. Russia remains vehemently opposed to the plan, Austria has called it a provocation and villages in the area where it may be located are rallying against it.