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Not so long ago, if you wanted to grab a coffee in Prague or any other Czech city you could only really do so at a rather grim old-fashioned café or restaurant but now times have changed. In recent years, both international and local coffee chains have been opening more and more shops. Chains like Coffeeheaven and Tchibo are now offering consumers a wider range of better products and services than before.

The government announced a new financial reform package on Monday evening, which it wants to put before parliament. The proposed measures include the introduction of a flat tax of fifteen percent, which is being hailed by supporters as a brave move aimed at ensuring that people can pay lower taxes while at the same time increasing government revenues. Is this the sort of step needed to reduce the Czech Republic's worrying public deficit or is it - as critics maintain - all just smoke and mirrors?

Sunday, April 8th, is International Roma Day but events are being held around Prague throughout the week to commemorate the occasion. International Roma Day is a young holiday, which was only established in 1990, but it is one of the few festivals shared by the Roma population the world over.

The Czech branch of the independent corruption watchdog Transparency International has found itself the subject of a police investigation. This week the Prague-based journal Euro reported that the Czech branch - formerly a civic association - had misappropriated millions of Czech crowns, an accusation the organisation has denied.

A new handbook commissioned by the Interior Ministry is currently being distributed to police stations around, the country to help the force identify extremist organisations. The manual contains brief descriptions of symbols and introduces police officers to whether their use on clothes and posters etc is legal. The ministry has printed 15,000 copies and, as Dita Asiedu reports, already faces a lawsuit:

Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Cunek is in hot water once more. After last week persuading the prime minister to let him stay in government despite being investigated for corruption, Mr Cunek again stirred controversy when he made offensive comments about Romanies in a newspaper interview. Now coalition partners the Greens have called for his head. With the pressure ratcheting up, how much longer Jiri Cunek can hang on?

Former Social Democrat MP Jana Volfova, one of the country's few women in politics, has founded her own party. With the Dignified Life Party, a name thought up by former Prime Minister and Social Democrat leader Milos Zeman, she aims to improve the lives of the elderly, women over the age of fifty, and people with disabilities. But although Ms Volfova has the backing of a number of former colleagues from the Social Democratic Party, political analysts view her chances of success with pessimism. Dita Asiedu spoke to political commentator Jiri Pehe

A new regulation on medical care and medicines which goes into effect on April 1st is intended to improve the overall quality of healthcare by making life-saving treatment available for free to those who need it. However in order for this to be made possible patients will have to fork out more for other medicines. Fear of steep rises has sent people flocking to their GPs for prescription medicine and has resulted in long cues in pharmacies across the country.

In the course of the last decade the Czech police force has increasingly been confronted with various forms of extremism and street violence. And more often than not it has been criticized for either failing to take action or over-reacting. The Interior Ministry says it is training officers to deal with such situations and has now issued a manual to help them recognize various extremist symbols.

A spying scandal which broke on the eve of last June's general elections is once more in the headlines. On Thursday the minister of the interior said he had proof that inspectors, acting on the orders of his predecessor and a former prime minister, tapped the phones of some four dozen people - and lied to the court while applying for permission.