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Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek awarded Milan Paumer, the third member of the so-called Mašín group, with a medal of honour on Tuesday. Last week, during a trip to Washington, Mr Topolánek broke one of the greatest Czech taboos by awarding medals to the two Mašín brothers, who along with Milan Paumer and two other anti-Communist fighters made a daring escape from Czechoslovakia in 1953, killing six armed men in the process. For decades the group were demonised by Communist propaganda, and Czechs are still deeply divided over the legitimacy

Thirty years ago Vladimír Remek became the first man in space who was not from either the United States or the Soviet Union. Remek became a hero not in only in his native Czechoslovakia but throughout the Eastern Bloc after taking part in an eight-day Soviet space mission in March 1978. The former cosmonaut spoke to me about his memories of that historic flight – and the propaganda which accompanied it

Software developers are teaming up in the Czech Republic to clamp down on the piracy of their products. Recent statistics show that nearly 40% of all programs on Czech computers are not the official, authorized versions. Now, those who sell unauthorized versions of programs such as Word and Photoshop can expect to be shown ‘less leniency’ by the software’s creators. Microsoft is one of the firms leading the anti-piracy drive. I asked Markéta Mead from the company’s licensing department how big a problem software piracy currently is in this

The Supreme Court recently ruled in favour of a woman who had grown cannabis for medicinal purposes and who had been previously found guilty of illegal production and possession of drugs by a lower court. The breakthrough ruling suggests that growing cannabis is not necessarily the same thing as marijuana production. Experts believe it could set an important legal precedent. Ruth Fraňková reports:

Meteorologists warned the country would be hard hit by hurricane-force winds on Saturday and in the end, when the windstorm hit, the damages were extensive. Downed high-voltage wires, fallen trees, even some roofs torn from buildings. As well: almost a million people without power and a toll of several injured and two dead. The storm, dubbed “Emma”, struck just 13 months after similar hurricane force winds hit the country last year.

Saturday night saw the Czech Republic host its annual national film awards, known as the Český Lev, or Czech Lion. No single film swept the board, but director Alice Nellis’s film Tajnosti, or Little Girl Blue came away with best film.

Politicians from across the Czech political scene have expressed concerns about the lack of democratic principles employed during Russia’s presidential election. While the Czech Foreign Ministry ‘regrets’ that Russian authorities didn’t allow for an open race of all the candidates, the opposition also share the concern for the future of Russian democracy.

The Czech health system continues to be a political hot potato. The recent controversial introduction of fees for doctor’s visits by the government is just one in a series of proposed reforms to the healthcare system in the country. However, as new figures from pharmacies are released, showing a sharp drop in sales, these measures are again coming under scrutiny.

For the second time this year, the city of Plzeň in West Bohemia is bracing itself for a march by neo-Nazi skinheads. As many as 400 skinheads will march down a route that takes them past Plzeň’s Great Synagogue, the second largest in Europe. Efforts to ban the march have exhausted all legal avenues; the authorities are now concentrating on keeping groups of skinheads and anti-Nazi protestors apart. And politicians are looking to how future marches can be avoided without curtailing the freedom of speech. Rob Cameron has more.

The Czech Republic has three provinces: Bohemia in the west, Moravia in the east, and little Silesia in the north east. Many from Moravia were hoping the next national census would explicitly include the option of choosing the ethnicity Moravian – but the Czech Statistical Office has denied their wishes.