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Every other diplomat representing the Russian Federation at its Prague embassy and several consulates across the Czech Republic works for Russian intelligence services, according to the 2006 annual report by Czech counter-intelligence. The report, published on Wednesday, also highlights other security risks including an increasing influence by organized crime in the state sector.

The Czech Republic’s campaign to reach football’s Euro 2008 came to a successful end on Wednesday evening with a 2:0 away win over Cyprus. What’s more, the Czechs – at times somewhat at sea earlier in the year – finished first in their group, ahead of Germany.

Many visitors to Prague praise the city’s public transport system, which is reliable, comprehensive and relatively easy to navigate. But buying tickets can sometimes be a problem, especially if you are far from the centre. Or rather it was a problem: on Thursday the Prague Transport Authority – Dopravni Podnik – launched a novel system under which passengers can buy single transfer tickets by mobile telephone text message. I talked to Jan Svoboda of the Prague Transport Authority and started by asking what were the reasons behind the introduction

New proposals put forward by the European Commission aimed at reforming the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) have met with opposition by Czech representatives, including the country’s Agrarian Chamber and the Agriculture Ministry. The EU is trying to slash millions in annual subsidies which would leave the largest agrarian businesses hardest hit. Under the proposals, large farms in the EU - including the Czech Republic – could lose up to 45 percent of previous funds.

This month, the first lesbian publishing house opened in the Czech Republic. LePress has a portfolio of two titles so far, both translations from American originals. The aim of the publishers is to introduce Czech lesbians to the sort of lesbian fiction that is being written overseas. The woman behind the project is Marketa Navratilova. She told Radio Prague where the idea came from:

When the famous Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal wrote about the Nymburk brewery in his novel “Cutting It Short”, he probably didn’t expect that one day its beer would make it as far as the Caribbean. Now, beer from Nymburk is also heading for another market. One of its products, which recently received a kosher certificate, will now be sold in Israel.

Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek and Justice Minister Jiri Pospisil unveiled ambitious plans to overhaul the Czech Republic’s inefficient and painfully slow justice system on Monday. The plans – ranging from allowing people to communicate by email to reshuffling the way courts are staffed and run – are set to be introduced gradually over the next two years.

Czech humanitarian organizations as well as the Czech Foreign Ministry have decided to send aid to Bangladesh. The country was hit by a disastrous cyclone last Thursday, which has claimed more than 3,000 lives so far. The Czech office of the Adra humanitarian organisation has already launched a fund-raising campaign to help the devastated region. I asked its coordinator Radek Spinka whether they have their own representative in the afflicted area.

The recent strong appreciation of the crown against the euro has resulted in growing internal pressure on the Czech government to set an early target date for euro adoption. After having to revise plans to join the Euro-zone in 2010, the Finance Ministry has spoken of the year 2012 as a soft-target date. However during a televised debate on Sunday the PM said the country must now look beyond 2012 to a time when it had successfully implemented heath and pension reforms. With neighbouring Slovakia looking set to join the euro-zone in 2009 it seems

On Saturday Czechs marked the 18th anniversary of the country’s return to freedom and democracy. How have people’s lives changed since the heady days of the Velvet Revolution and are they happy with the changes? A poll conducted by the independent STEM agency indicates that the post-revolution euphoria has long worn off. Only 51 percent of respondents said they were fully satisfied with the country’s post-89 development. The rest expressed numerous reservations. We spoke with STEMs director Jan Hartl to get the big picture.