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The ongoing controversy over a planned new National Library building in Prague has come to something of a head; the conflicting sides have agreed that an expert team should determine whether the futuristic building should be built on the location that was originally chosen, and if so, whether the design should be modified to fit the historic environment. Within some two or three months, the 'Team National Library' consisting of architects, preservationists and lawyers, is expected to come up with a final proposal for the location of 'the

Starting next Thursday, our colleague David Vaughan will be introducing new series entitled From the Archives. As the name suggest he'll be dusting off some of the many unique recordings to be found in the archives of the Czech Radio. I asked David what drew him to explore the archives in the first place.

Possibly the best-known living Czech writer, Milan Kundera, will receive the State Prize for Literature on Thursday for his famous work "The Unbearable Lightness of Being". The novel was first published in French in 1984, but the official Czech edition didn't appear in this country until last year, to great acclaim. However the 78-year-old writer, who emigrated to France in the 1970s, has what can best be described as a difficult relationship with his homeland, and will not attend Thursday's prize-giving ceremony. Rob Cameron spoke to literary

After a great deal of legal toing and froing, a march by neo-Nazis through Prague's historic Jewish Quarter now looks set to go ahead on November 10, the anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogrom of 1938. But there is some resistance: the Prague Town Hall has renewed its efforts to block the demonstration, the Jewish Community is organizing a counter-event, and the Czech president no less has called for it to be stopped.

On Sunday at 3 o'clock in the morning, clocks will go back in the Czech Republic as well as in the rest of Europe, as it is the end of this year's daylight saving period. While for most people, the autumn backward shift of the clock can be a welcome opportunity to gain an extra hour of sleep, the end of summer time also brings complications, notably in transportation schedules. Marketa Krasuova, the spokeswoman for the Czech Railways, explains that on Sunday, 12 international express trains with departure or destination points in the Czech Republic

Washington's efforts to overcome Russian hostility to a US missile defense shield in central Europe by inviting a Russian presence at the planned US sites in the Czech Republic and Poland has caused a storm of controversy in Prague. In view of the fact that Russian troops occupied the country for twenty years after the crushing of the Prague Spring reforms in 1968 - the idea that even a small number of them should now be invited back by the US government, for whatever reason - is not easy for Czechs to stomach.

The United States Defence Secretary Robert Gates said in Prague on Tuesday that the U.S. might consider delaying the activation of its proposed missile defence shield in Central Europe until Washington had "definitive proof" of a missile threat from Iran. Mr Gates was speaking in Prague after a meeting with the Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek to discuss the missile defence proposals, which have deeply angered Russia.

The Orloj, or Astronomical clock, on the Old Town Square is one of Prague's major tourist attractions. Every hour, the square fills with tourists who watch two small windows on the clock tower, waiting for the regular procession of apostles. Recently, however, the walls of the clock tower have grown increasingly damp and conservationists fear that dust from the moist plaster might cause mechanical problems for the ancient clockwork.

While the Czech economy is booming, many employers are complaining they just cannot find workers. Some large companies are increasingly turning to foreign workers, though that process is often held back by lengthy and complicated bureaucratic procedures. But now things are set to become easier - the Czech government has this week announced plans for a new "green card" system.

Prague City Hall has seen a setback in its efforts to prevent a group of neo-Nazis from marching through Prague's Jewish Quarter on 10 November, the anniversary of the largest anti-Jewish pogrom in the Third Reich. The Prague Municipal Court has just cancelled a City Hall ban on the controversial planned march; however, officials are still hoping to block the far-right demonstration.