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Jan Zahradil, a Euro-MP for the Civic Democrats, a member party of the largest right-of-centre faction in the European Parliament, is no newcomer to EU institutions: for a year he was an Observer of the European Parliament and he also served as the head of the Czech delegation to the European Parliament between 1998 and 2003. Mr Zahradil told Radio Prague about his first impressions of the European Parliament in a new post.

Prague's rabbi Karol Sidon was recently dismissed from his position by the board of the Prague Jewish community. The official statement says that he failed to perform his duties satisfactorily. However, there is speculation that behind his dismissal there could also be a dispute between the orthodox and non-orthodox groups in the city's 1600 member strong Jewish community.

The European Parliament this week is holding its first full plenary session since the historic enlargement this May of the European Union from 15 to 25 member states. The first order of business on Tuesday, the opening day of the session, was for the 732 MEPs - who between them speak 20 official languages - to elect a new president and 14 vice-presidents.

Hundreds of lace makers from around the world descended on Prague at the weekend for the 11th World Lace Congress. The congress displays the work of lace makers from dozens of countries and holds exhibitions and workshops for people interested in the ancient craft of lace making.

It's official: one year shy of six decades since the Czech national radio headquarters in Prague came under fire from occupying Nazi forces, - and three and a half decades since the Soviets trained their guns on Ceskoslovensky Rozhlas - the rather uninspiring, functionalist-style building on Vinohradska Street has been named a cultural landmark.

A team of Czech military police officers recently left for Saiba, a base in southern Iraq and have begun to help train Iraq's police force. The 100 member Czech contingent is working in close cooperation with British, Danish and Dutch military officers who together have already trained over 2,000 Iraqi policemen to help maintain law and order in the war torn country.

It seems ever more likely that the new government will be formed by the same coalition parties as the outgoing one. Over the weekend the top executive body of the Social Democrats approved the steps the party's acting head, Stanislav Gross, has been taking in trying to put together a new cabinet, following the resignation of former Prime Minister and party head Vladimir Spidla. Although Mr Gross's negotiations with the Christian Democrats and the Freedom Union were approved by an overwhelming majority of the party's executive committee, a few dissenting

Each year London's famous series of Promenade Concerts at the Albert Hall - universally known as the "Proms" - looks at different themes, as a way of linking music from distinct styles and eras. This year 'Back to Bohemia' is one of the three main themes running through the festival, which started last Friday.

The annual Auto-Stangl vintage car rally was held in Prague at the weekend. Since it began five years ago, this prestigious rally has become one of the biggest events of its kind in the world.

It has not been an easy week for the Health Minister Jozef Kubinyi. Last week he found himself at the center of an international controversy over the use of caged beds in Czech psychiatric hospitals. Then on Wednesday, his decision to put an immediate stop to the use of the beds provoked official criticism from president Vaclav Klaus. Yesterday however, Dr. Kubinyi was getting a very different kind of attention from a delegation of American medical students studying in the Czech Republic. Joshua Keating went along.