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A large black 12-cylinder Tatra T 80 from early 1930s that was once the personal car of first Czechoslovak president Tomas Garrigue Masaryk was hidden under a pile of tyres during the Second World War. It was later featured in the collections of the National Technical Museum in Prague, and has just gone on display at the Chrome Jewels exhibition in Vienna.

Bands like Mig 21 and Chinaski may be pretty famous here in the Czech Republic, but might well leave you asking 'who?' That might not be the situation for that much longer, however, with the Czech Republic discussing plans for a Music Export Office - to raise the profile of Czech pop abroad. If it goes ahead with the plans, the Czech Republic will join the ranks of Finland, Denmark, Sweden and France, who all already have such government-funded offices to promote their musicians in other markets. Who better to fill me in on the situation than the

In the past two decades the availability of oral contraceptives has significantly reduced the number of abortions annually performed in the Czech Republic. However the use of these contraceptives has had an unfortunate side-effect - traces of the female hormone estrogen which end up in Czech rivers may be doing more environmental damage than we know.

Zapomenute obrazy Praha 19. stoleti ( Forgotten Pictures, 19th Century Prague) is the name of an exhibition currently running at the Museum of the City of Prague. Of the 180 paintings on show, almost half have never been exhibited before, while a number are by unknown artists. What's more, many of the works on display document parts of the Czech capital which today no longer exist. Zdenek Mika is the curator of the exhibition - he told us all about it.

Controversy has dogged deputy prime minister and head of the Christian Democrats Jiri Cunek since he first entered high politics. In 2006 he was accused of accepting a 500,000-crown bribe in a case dating back to when he was mayor of the town of Vsetin, an investigation that was stopped only after several months due to lack of evidence. Now, scandal is threatening Mr Cunek again. On Monday Czech TV's flagship news magazine "Reporters" revealed it had information Mr Cunek and his family received social subsidies at a time when he had millions in

The interior ministers of nine countries who are soon set to join the Schengen free travel zone met representatives of countries already in the system in Prague on Friday and Saturday. The unanimous conclusion: the Czech Republic and the other eight new states are well prepared for the abolishing of border checks and becoming part of the Schengen area.

During the enforced nationalisation of the hard-line 1950s, one class who came in for particular persecution were the 'kulaks' or wealthier, propertied farmers. As part of their efforts to destroy them, the Communists are believed to have displaced over 4,000 such farming families. Now - a full 50 or more years later - there are moves to bring to justice some of those responsible for what has even been described as genocide.

This Sunday marked the 89th anniversary of the founding of independent Czechoslovakia, a holiday on which the Czech president addresses the nation and honours individuals for outstanding service for their country.

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.

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