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On Wednesday, the Czech government officially recognised Kosovo’s independence and said it planned to establish diplomatic relations with Pristina. The Czech Republic now joins a long line of EU member states to have acknowledged the former Serbian province’s independence, but the move has not been without controversy.

Last-minute rehearsals before the long-awaited world premiere of Václav Havel’s latest play at Prague’s Archa Theatre on Thursday night. Leaving or Odcházení, is the first play the former Czech president has written in more than two decades. It tells the story of a high-ranking politician who leaves his post and sees his world fall apart. The play is inspired by Shakespeare’s King Lear and Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard and is about the passage of power from one generation to the next. The former dissident insists that it is not based on his own experiences,

On Wednesday the government approved a treaty between the Czech Republic and the US on the deployment of an American radar base on Czech territory. The treaty, to be signed later this summer, sets the ground for a planned US missile defence system in Europe, including not only the radar in the Czech Republic but also interceptor rockets in Poland. But reaching agreement with the US is only the first step. The coalition will next have to push the treaty through Parliament and there is every indication that it won’t have it easy.

Manchester United overcame Chelsea on penalties in last night's Champions League final clash in Moscow. Czech goalkeeper Petr Čech played his part in the drama, saving a penalty in the shootout, but his club season with Chelsea has ultimately ended without silverware. Čech will now be hoping to put disappointment with his club side behind him as he looks ahead to the Czech Republic's participation in the European Championships this summer.

According to new figures released by the National Security Council of the Czech Republic, more than 392,000 foreigners legally came to live and work in the Czech Republic in 2007, a 22% increase on the previous year’s figures. But what are the implications of this increasing trend of immigration into the country? I spoke with Marie Jelínková of the Prague Multicultural Centre for her insight and began by asking her to explain why the Czech Republic was an increasingly attractive location for migrants.

The Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association is one of the oldest and most important Czech organisations in New York. Founded as a kind of umbrella body for a large number of immigrant associations, today the BBLA is mainly concerned with the running of the Bohemian National Hall on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, which it built in the 1890s.

Australian customs officers recently uncovered 15 geckos in parcels that someone had attempted to smuggle to the Czech Republic, most of them dead due to the lack of feed, water and air. The attempt to smuggle exotic animals to the Czech Republic is not isolated and Australian and Czech police are now working to trace what they believe could be an extensive network of animal smugglers. Ruth Fraňková has the story:

The Czech and American governments have reached a deal under which a US radar base would be based in central Bohemia. With most Czechs opposed to the project, Prague’s American Center, part of the U.S. Embassy, has launched a photo exhibition entitled “Life with the Radar”. It documents life on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, which hosts the radar facility that could one day be moved to the Czech Republic. Radio Prague talked to Miroslav Konvalina, the head of the American Center and a former Czech Radio correspondent in the United

For years, Czech left-handers have been grappling with ill-designed pens and pencils, vegetable peelers, scissors and secateurs. But they need not any longer. The country’s first shop especially for left-handers has opened in Prague. I paid it a visit.

The head of the Communist Party Vojtěch Filip was re-elected party leader at a national conference over the weekend, disappointing both reformists and radicals within the party who had lobbied for change. For years the party has been split over whether to reject the communist legacy and become a modern left-wing force with a chance of one day entering government or to remain loyal to its past.