Current Affairs | All stories

The second round of talks on forming a new government since parliamentary elections ended in stalemate half a year ago, saw unexpected developments on Monday when Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek announced his party was dropping a demand for early elections next year. Until now, the right-of-centre Civic Democrats, who won the election in June but where unable to secure a governing majority, had pushed for early elections as the only viable option. Why the reversal in position?

Over the weekend, BIS, the Czech intelligence agency, made a surprising announcement: North Korean agents have made three known attempts to purchase component parts for their nuclear program from Czech sources within the past year.

The network of Czech Centres, institutions promoting Czech culture abroad, has once again expanded. A brand new Czech Centre has recently opened in Japan's capital Tokyo, at the Czech Republic's Embassy. The Czech Republic is known in Japan mainly for its classical music, successes in sport and in recent years also for its animated film. The Czech Centre will now try to bring more aspects of Czech culture to Japan.

On Monday, the fourteenth annual Antiques Trade Fair came to a close in Prague. Some sixty dealers from all over the country offered everything from 19th and 20th century art to silverware and porcelain. Besides collectors and traditional buyers, the fair also attracted hundreds of people on the look-out for unique Christmas presents or antiques to decorate their homes. Dita Asiedu reports:

The "National Theatre House" in the Moravian town of Prostejov - a centre of the Czech clothes industry - has just put some unusual items on display. The Art Nouveau house of culture, which was built in 1907, is exhibiting negligees from the early 20th century. The owners of the elegant dressing gowns are the town's residents themselves. Dita Asiedu reports:

In one weeks' time Czechs will be marking the 17th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution which toppled the communist regime. Do they still remember what the communist days were like - and are they happy with their lives today? A poll conducted by the CVVM agency for researching public opinion suggests that Czechs are extremely disgruntled with what's going on around them these days.

In April this year, the Foundation for Holocaust Victims announced that it concluded a compensation programme for Holocaust victims; it had distributed over 4 million dollars put in by the Czech state among some 500 claimants from 27 countries. However, an important chapter still remained to be addressed regarding the mitigation of property injustices caused to Holocaust victims - the return of confiscated art objects. The deadline for claims was originally set for the end of this year. But thanks to an amendment to the law, Holocaust survivors

If ever you need proof that poetry can be fun and popular, the Czech Republic's annual international poetry festival "Den poezie" - or "day of poetry" offers it in abundance. The festival traditionally takes place around the birthday of the much loved 19th century Czech romantic poet, Karel Hynek Macha who was born in 1810. It offers poetry that caters to all tastes and generations, and not just from the Czech Republic. Poets from countries ranging from Romania to Chile or Israel will be here to read and talk about their poetry. One of the main organizers

The widespread use of illegal drugs is one of the unwelcome changes brought to the Czech Republic with the fall of communism. The National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Use is the official government body in this area, and has just brought out its report for 2005. Its findings are in some senses positive, though there has been a worrying rise in the illegal use of one heroin substitute. I discussed the new report with the director of the drug monitoring centre, Viktor Mravcik.

With an annual consumption of 156 liters per head Czechs are the world's biggest beer consumers. Now - a proposed increase in minimum alcohol excise duties in the EU states is threatening to send up the price of the Czech national beverage. On Tuesday the Czech Republic and three other EU members - Germany, Lithuania and Latvia - blocked the proposal. But the fight over the price of beer is not over. The excise duty price hike will be back on the EU's agenda at the end of November.