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The violent suppression of freedom protests in Lhasa by the Chinese military over the weekend sparked a show of international solidarity with Tibet, with street protests in many world cities and governments appealing for restraint. In the Czech Republic, a country which overthrew communist rule less than two decades ago, the violence in Tibet has touched on a raw nerve.

More and more people are checking into the Czech Republic’s four and five star hotels. Last year, the number of people holidaying in the lap of luxury in this country rose by over ten percent to nearly 3.5 million. To respond to the surge in demand, tens of new and deluxe high-end hotels are planned. Prague alone can expect nearly 20 of them in the next couple of years. But will this phenomenon be felt outside of Prague in the regions?

The Interior Ministry has come up with a new bill on citizenship which will make it easier for former Czech nationals to have their Czech citizenship returned. If it goes through, former Czech citizens who were stripped of their citizenship by the communist authorities will be able to have double nationality.

Although drug abuse is a criminal offense in the Czech Republic, the existing legislation does not distinguish between hard and soft drugs, merely drawing a line between what it calls “a small amount of drugs” and “anything over that amount”. But what exactly is “a small amount” of drugs? The law fails to specify that and it has been up to the police to decide. Now the government has proposed an amendment to the penal code which would let offenders know when they are on dangerous ground. DL has the story:

The official seat of the country’s president and Prague’s most important landmark, Prague Castle, has been placed under administration – or distraint- as a result of debts owed to private firms. So is there a genuine threat that this landmark monument will be sold off to the highest bidder?

The Lane Motor Museum in the US city of Nashville made the news here in the Czech Republic recently when it commissioned a copy of a 1940s Tatra aero sledge or aero luge, a remarkable car on skis. It is just the latest addition to what the museum’s operators say is the largest collection of Czechoslovak cars outside Europe. I discussed its vintage vehicles with owner and auto enthusiast Jeff Lane on the phone from Nashville.

Czech lawmakers have recommended that people forced to abandon their homes in Carpathian Ruthenia, when this part of Czechoslovakia was ceded to the Soviet Union at the end of WWII, be compensated. Estimates suggest that this may cost the Czech government as much as 1 billion crowns.

Leaders of the country’s ruling coalition met on Wednesday to discuss upcoming tasks and priorities. The one important issue which was pointedly avoided was the possible return by Christian Democrat leader Jiří Čunek to the government. Mr Čunek stepped down last year as deputy prime minister and minister for regional affairs over charges of alleged bribe-taking, but was later cleared. His party is now pushing for his reinstatement, but some members of the government – including the Greens – remain opposed. Mr Čunek’s possible return threatens the

Monday is the Irish national holiday St Patrick’s Day, but the 11th Prague St Patrick’s Festival is already underway. The special guest at Thursday morning’s opening was Ireland’s minister for health, Mary Harney. I spoke to Minister Harney about Ireland’s pioneering smoking ban, the country’s cabinet jetting around the world for St Patrick’s Day – and the impact of foreign workers from the Czech Republic and elsewhere on the Irish economy in recent years.

The Czech Parliament has failed to overrule a presidential veto of a bill which was meant to lift a ban on the use of foxes in the training of burrowing dogs. Under the current regulation, foxes can only be used in dog training if they are blocked off from the dogs so that the animals cannot hurt each other. While Czech hunters complain that during real hunts, poorly trained dogs are easy prey for wild animals, animal rights activists endorse the persisting ban, emphasizing the cruelty of full-contact dog training. Radio Prague spoke to Marcela