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Relations between the Czech Republic and Egypt were the focus of a brief visit by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit visit to Prague on Wednesday. During his stay in the Czech capital, Mr Gheit met the Czech President Vaclav Klaus, the head of the Senate Premysl Sobotka as well as Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg. Topics covered included possible Egyptian support for the Czech' candidacy for a non-permanent UN Security Council seat.

Smoked meats have for years been a favourite part of the Czech diet, and the varieties and producers are numerous. But if producers of cold meat in Slovakia have their way, Czech manufacturers of famous foodstuffs like "Lovecky salam" (a type of salami) and Spekacky (much-loved campfire sausages) could soon be facing a stark choice: change your methods, or change the names of your products. Slovak manufacturers, following new regulations on foodstuffs within the European Union, have sent an application to Brussels to have nine types of cold meat

On Thursday afternoon, a new centre for the Czech Republic, known as the Czech House, opens its doors to the public in Brussels. It will become the address of the Czech embassy, the Czech Centre as well as a number of national companies and institutions. Its main aim is to promote the Czech Republic before it takes on the EU presidency in 2009. I spoke to the head of the Czech Centre in Brussels, Petr Polivka, just a few hours before the start of the event and he agreed to answer a few questions related to the centre's new address:

The parents of the two baby girls who were accidentally swapped at birth ten months ago are slowly coming to terms with the situation. Following the shock of the revelation that the child they'd loved and cared for was not their own they now face the daunting task of preparing to swap their children.

On Tuesday the Canadian Ambassador to Prague hosted a panel discussion at the Canadian residence recalling cooperation between Czech dissidents and Canadian officials in the years prior to the fall of communism. The event was most unusual as it brought together many of the former players: figures like Jan Urban and Jirina Siklova and former embassy officials.

Sir Nicholas Winton, the British man whose foresight and determination helped save 669 mostly Jewish Czechoslovak children from the Holocaust, paid a visit to Prague this week, and was given a rapturous reception. Now 98, this was his fifth visit to the Czech capital since the extraordinary story of his heroic deeds first emerged in the late 1980s. That story was captured in the moving documentary The Power of Good, by director Matej Minac. He's been showing the film in schools around the country, and organised a special event at Prague's Congress

This week, Prague has been playing host to leading Belarusian political dissident Aljaksandr Milinkevic as part of Forum 2000. The leader of the country's suppressed opposition movement 'Za Svobodu', or 'For Freedom' received a prestigious human rights prize from former president Vaclav Havel, and spoke to an audience consisting largely of Czech students about human rights in Belarus. The visit highlights the activism of Czech non-governmental organizations in promoting human rights in Europe's last dictatorship.

The Ekofilm festival is less about red carpets - and more about green politics than anything else. It was the first environment-focused film festival in Europe when it was set up back in 1974. This Monday, it got underway for the 33rd time, in the Southern Bohemian towns of Ceske Budejovice and Cesky Krumlov. And this year it's bigger than ever before - on the programme are concerts, seminars and an international film competition, all with a decidedly green twist. One of the institutions behind the festival is the Czech Environment Ministry. Jakub

In spite of all its beauty, the Czech Republic seems to be turning into a rather unpleasant place to live - at least in some respects. Two-thirds of Czechs are currently gasping for air as it gets more and more polluted. This and many other alarming facts have been highlighted in an annual report on the Czech environment, published recently by the Environment Ministry.

Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg revealed at the weekend that the Czech Republic is working on a plan to gradually withdraw most of its troops from Iraq. At present the Czech contingent consists of around 100 troops in Basra and a handful of military advisers in Baghdad. There's no date set yet for the Czech military presence to be reduced but the move is expected sometime after 2008.