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Until sixteen years ago the 1st of May was celebrated in grandiose style, with huge parades on Letna - the large open park to the north of Prague Castle. To this day Czech communists - mostly in their 60s and 70s - still gather here every year to hear Communist leaders speak. Music plays, sausages are sold, and supporters cheer on a famous actress or two as she pledges support. Though, it's a far cry from the old days - fewer visitors, and the odd heckler or two - in days of yore they would have been quickly swept away by men in green uniforms -

Exactly three years ago, two young Czech cycling enthusiasts, Michal Jon and Lucie Kovarikova, set off to conquer the world on their bicycles. As planned, they returned back home on Sunday, having pedalled almost 69,000 kilometres in all continents. The couple are the first Czechs to have cycled around Greenland, the first Czech cyclists to have ridden into the Antarctic and Lucie Kovarikova is the first Czech woman to cycle around the world.

For the past decade, the award-winning Roxy nightclub in the centre of Prague has established itself as the main venue for alternative dance parties, which have become a major cultural phenomenon here since the 1990s. The club is considered by some to be one of the best in Europe and it has attracted many internationally renowned dance acts and DJs such as The Shamen and Asian Dub Foundation. This weekend, however, Prague partygoers will dance the night way in the Roxy for the last time. This is because the city authorities have bowed to complaints

The European Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution condemning the discrimination of Romanies on the European continent. It called on EU governments to take active steps to improve the position of Romanies, who make up Europe's largest single ethnic minority. The Czech government in particular was urged to remove as fast as possible a large pig farm at Lety, in south Bohemia, the site of a concentration camp for Roma during the Second World War.

That's the sound of more than 13,000 loyal Czech fans who packed Prague's T-Mobile arena last night. They came to support the Czech national team in its last world hockey championship practice game, a very close one which they lost by one point against Canada. The Championships begin on Saturday in Vienna, and here, all eyes will be on the Czech team - which has 26 NHL players on the roster, including Jaromir Jagr. But it's not only the Czech players that are getting attention - it's also Czech referees. There will be more of them at the championships

On Wednesday the seventh year of the human rights' documentary film festival "One World" began in Prague. It is organized by the Czech humanitarian organization "People in Need", and over seven days it will feature 120 documentary films from 35 countries.

The practice of lobbying has long been accepted as an effective if sometimes controversial part of the modern political process, with no shortage of lobby groups everywhere trying to influence government policy and legislation. But in formerly communist countries it is still relatively new - and not without its detractors. Lobbying here is still widely associated with corruption in the public eye.

The crisis in the Czech government appeared finally to be over earlier this week, when Jiri Paroubek replaced Stanislav Gross as prime minister. But Mr Paroubek's coalition government - with a majority of just one in parliament - is now facing a threat from within his own Social Democrats. Up to five of the party's MPs say they won't support the government in a confidence vote, unless their man - Hynek Kmonicek - is made second in command at the Foreign Ministry; they want to curtail the influence of Christian Democrat foreign minister Cyril Svoboda,

Some fifty communities across the western part of the Czech Republic are holding celebrations in the coming days to mark the 60th anniversary of their World War II liberation by U.S., Czech and Belgian soldiers under the command of the American General George S. Patton. The Allies' role in the liberation of Czechoslovakia from Nazi tyranny was, to put it mildly, played down by the Soviet Union for propaganda purposes. Ahead of the celebrations marking 'V-E' day, the U.S. Embassy in Prague has commissioned a compilation of raw, historical footage,

The Czech science-fiction community was hit by sad news on Monday. The greatest Czech sci-fi author, Josef Nesvadba, died unexpectedly. Although he was 78, he was still full of plans, and many had looked forward to reading his memoirs. Sadly that was not to be.