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Hundreds of priceless Czech and Slovak artifacts are submerged after severe flooding in the US state of Iowa. The Czech and Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids, opened in 1995 by then president Havel, alongside his American and Slovak counterparts, has been devastated by the floods. I spoke to museum manager Gail Naughton about the extent of the damage:

The number of traffic accidents on Czech roads dropped sharply after a new points system was introduced in 2006 but has been on a slow but steady increase since then. To fight the rising number of car crashes, the General Automotive Club of the Czech Republic has joined the European Road Assessment Programme and created a map highlighting the most dangerous roads in the Czech Republic. Radio Prague talked to the head of the Automotive Club’s international department Miroslav Fiřt to find out who the map was meant for.

Following Sunday’s dramatic defeat against Turkey in the Euro 2008 football championships, Czech coach Karel Brückner confirmed that he will step down. We examine his life and career:

The French president Nicolas Sarkozy came to Prague on Monday, a trip that had been planned long in advance but happened to fall on the first working day after the people of Ireland voted ‘No’ to the EU’s Lisbon Treaty. The Czech Republic is one of eight countries that still haven’t ratified the treaty, and the country is seen by many as the biggest obstacle in the path of reviving the ill-fated EU reform project.

Last Thursday, the Czech tabloid known simply as Aha! published semi-naked photographs of the 77 year-old Czech actress Jiřina Bohdalová. The photographs were taken clandestinely, while the actress was on holiday in Turkey. Soon after, it was revealed that Ms Bohdalová had suffered a mental breakdown and was undergoing psychiatric treatment. Questions have since been raised about just how far the Czech media can go and what the limits to public interest really are.

Most EU leaders certainly hoped it wouldn’t come to this: a failure by a single country to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon, the third rejection of proposed reforms to the European Union in three years. Once again, the EU faces renewed crisis with unanswered questions over how – and how effectively – the bloc will function in the future. But while acknowledging the set-back, most EU representatives still want the ratification process to go ahead. By contrast, long-term critics such as Czech President Václav Klaus have already declared the treaty, like

Whoever in the Irish government thought of holding a referendum on Friday the 13th might now be regretting it. Unofficial vote tallies from the popular vote on the Lisbon Treaty suggest the Irish people have said ‘No’ to the European Union’s plans for institutional reform. The collapse of Lisbon would have far-reaching consequences not only for the Union itself but also for the Czech Republic, which is due to take over the reins of the EU on January 1st 2009, the day the new rules were supposed to come into force.

When French President Nicolas Sarkozy packs his bags for a working visit to Prague next week he’ll be taking much less than anticipated. A giant bronze statue of Jan Palach which was to have accompanied him to Prague as a gift to the Czech government is to remain in Paris.

Ron Fletcher is in many ways the archetypal West Coast fitness guru. Following the death of his teacher Joseph Pilates, Fletcher moved to LA where he developed his own version of the Pilates Method. His classes in the 1970s were attended by many of Hollywood’s biggest stars, and his work helped make Pilates the world-wide exercise phenomenon it is today. Now a hale 87, Ron Fletcher is in Prague at the moment for a Pilates conference. When we met, I first asked him about his work with Joseph Pilates, which began in the 1940s.

The Czech Republic’s footballers were beaten 3:1 by Portugal in their second game at the European Championship on Wednesday evening. That result was perhaps unfortunate for the Czechs, whose play showed marked signs of improvement. Now it’s going right down to the wire: Petr Čech and Co. have to beat Turkey to advance to the quarter-finals.