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While the Olympics in Beijing are still over four months away, the recent unrest in Tibet has brought the issue of how the world should deal with China – and the games – to the fore. The Czech minister of education and sport is set to boycott the Beijing Olympics, while the prime minister has just issued a statement saying he will let the cabinet decide whether he should attend. With the president staying home for health reasons, will any senior Czech politicians actually go to Beijing? And what would it mean if they don't?

The L-200 Morava is a Czech-made retractable four-seat light aircraft designed in the mid 1950s. It was one of the few light aircraft to be exported from behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War era and remains a favourite with many pilots today. Two Czech pilots – Petr Bold and Richard Santus – have decided to mark the plane’s fiftieth birthday anniversary by flying it to the North Pole and back. I spoke to Richard Santus earlier today to find out more about the plane and expedition North Pole 2008:

The European Commission has taken an interest in the high noise levels Czechs are subjected to across the country. From noisy roads to squeaky trains, apparently hundreds of thousands of people in the country are suffering. Now, the European Commission has set a deadline for the country to act.

If passed, legislation currently being debated in Parliament could allow Czech police to be far more broadly equipped with electronic stun guns than at present. Currently weapons like the US-made Taser, are used by police but only by special unit officers. The aim is to help them deal with dangerous suspects without having to resort to firearms. But the use of electronic stun guns like the Taser has not been without controversy. The weapon has been named in a growing number of cases of suspicious death and as a result some medical specialists as

Thursday night sees the opening of the Febiofest film festival. Between now and next Thursday audiences in Prague will be able to choose from nearly three hundred films from all over the world. The festival will then travel outside Prague to eight other Czech and Moravian towns. Febiofest takes place at Prague’s Village cinemas at Anděl and when people have had enough of watching films they can enjoy a number of accompanying music programmes. Earlier today, I met the festival’s spokesman Pavel Sladký and asked him to tell me about the history of

Art lovers have good reason to visit Amsterdam next week. On Tuesday, the Dutch branch of Christies auction house will be putting some very interesting artefacts under the hammer – approximately 400 items from the famous Liechtenstein art collection, one of the largest private art collections in the world. Some of these items once graced a number of Liechtenstein chateaux in the Czech lands and their administrators are now holding their breath: a team of Czech civil servants is heading for Amsterdam to try and buy some of them back.

On Tuesday, seven Czech artists who hacked into a Czech TV broadcast as an artistic prank last year were acquitted of criminal wrongdoing. In June 2007 members of the group known as Ztohoven tampered with Czech TV equipment in a piece aimed at showing the impact of the media. Members hacked into a live feed on Czech TV’s weather programme Panorama and in a flash superimposed a doctored image of a mushroom cloud rising on the horizon.

Social Democrat leader Jiří Paroubek, is flying to Moscow today along with several other key members of his party. On the agenda will be the proposed US missile defence system in central Europe, which both Russia and the Social Democrats oppose. But the Czech government is in favour of the country hosting a US radar base, and has accused the opposition Social Democrats of pursuing a potentially damaging alternative foreign policy.

For centuries, Czechs have been fermenting and distilling their own fruit brandies. They have been doing so despite the fact that it’s illegal and that they could face up to twelve months in prison for tax evasion. However, this may be about to change. The lower chamber has started debating an amendment to the penal code that could decriminalize home distilling.

Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev has come out strongly against plans by the US to site a radar base in the Czech Republic – as part of a broader missile defense system in Europe. In an interview for public broadcaster Czech TV on Monday, the former Soviet leader questioned the system was being planned against rogue states like Iran, saying on the contrary it was aimed against Russia and China. His views contrasted those of former Czech president Václav Havel who appeared on the same show. He defended the project – calling it a “first chance”