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A new law proposed by the Czech transport Minister Aleš Řebíček will see Czech drivers encountering an entirely original road sign. The white-on-blue sign, which features a large snowflake beneath a picture of a car is set to warn drivers that they can only proceed on a particular road on condition that they have so-called winter-tires fitted to their cars. Drivers who have summer-tires fitted will be obliged to find an alternative route.

A report outlining Roma minority problems in the EU, adopted by the European Parliament on Thursday, highlights the case of a pig farm built on the site of a wartime concentration camp for Romanies near the community of Lety, central Bohemia. Members of the European Parliament are calling on the Czech authorities to abolish the farm, and create a memorial in honour of the camp’s victims.

After years of debate, the Czech Republic has finally got an official body dedicated to examining the country’s communist past. Entitled the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, it will give both the public and historians access to tens of kilometres – and millions of pages – of secret police and military intelligence files. I spoke to director Pavel Žáček at the new institute’s official opening on Friday morning.

Czech President Václav Klaus is notorious for his outspoken views on climate change. He calls evidence of global warming “bogus” and ambitious environmentalism "a threat to freedom and economic growth". But now Mr. Klaus is no longer just up against “ambitious environmentalists”. He is opposing the far-reaching measures that the EU has put in place to cut carbon dioxide emissions in the coming decade.

After months of anticipation, and several unauthorized versions finding their way onto the internet, the Czech translation of the seventh and final Harry Potter book has been released. On Wednesday night, hundreds queued for a copy of Harry Potter a Relikvie Smrti – the Czech version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The official launch was held at Kanzelsberger bookshop, and organized by Klára Honzíková, to whom I spoke earlier today. She said she was happy with attendance at the launch:

Citizen Havel, a new fly-on-the-wall documentary about the former Czech president, premiered on Wednesday night in Prague. The film draws on 45 hours of unique behind-the-scenes footage of Václav Havel shot over a period of 13 years. The result is a film that lifts the curtain on the Havel presidency, in a way that no other politician has been captured on screen before.

A 27-year old Czech police officer is being held over a stabbing in the early hours of Wednesday, which resulted in the death a US citizen. The incident happened sometime after 1 am, after the officer, who was off-duty and apparently drunk, made obscene gestures at a passing car. The American driver stopped and got out of his vehicle, resulting in a quarrel which led to the fatal attack.

In March of 2006 Czech homosexuals celebrated an important victory. After seven years of intensive lobbying the Czech Parliament finally passed a law on same-sex partnerships or so called gay-marriages, overriding president Klaus’s veto by a narrow majority. A year and a half later the number of registered partnerships between same-sex couples in the Czech Republic has reached nearly five hundred. Ruth Fraňková spoke to Slavomír Goga from the Gay and Lesbian League and started by asking whether the new law had made a significant difference to the

Only the Roman Catholic Church is authorized to decide what wine can be labelled sacramental, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled on Tuesday. In a lawsuit filed by a wine-producing company against the Church, the court said that the Church has autonomy to decide which wine may be used in Catholic worship.

President Klaus is famous for his views on Co2 emissions – namely that they are not responsible for climate change. Now, he has shifted his gaze to smoking, and angered other elements of the scientific community, suggesting that passive smoking might not be the health risk that it’s made out to be. As Czech MPs start debating whether smoking should be banned in the country’s restaurants, Mr Klaus has told the press that such a ban would deny smokers their rights, and that the effects of passive smoking are less dangerous than people say.