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Tady a Ted (Here & Now) is an association that has worked to help children from marginalised families in the city of Pilsen, West Bohemia since 2004. Not long ago, together with People in Need, it launched a successful project entitled Cesta z Ghetta - Out of the Ghetto, a board game designed for high schools and social workers focusing on the difficulty of life in poorer areas. Following the association's success Tady a Ted are now working on a videogame version with the hopes of reaching an even broader audience.

Almost one fifth of the Czech Republic's air pollution is caused by transport and yet efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in cars have borne little fruit. But this week, EU industry ministers said they have drawn up a plan that is expected to win the approval of the two main players in the debate - environmentalists and carmakers.

This week, the Agriculture Ministry, Food Chamber, and food quality control bodies are holding various seminars and conferences for the general public. What have been titled "Food Safety Days" will run until Sunday and their main aim is to educate consumers about the country's food quality monitoring system and about their rights.

Czech TV viewers are in for something of a comedy treat this evening as the cult British TV show The Office makes its debut on Czech Television. The programme - a mock documentary set in an office in Slough, England - has won a string of international awards and has been shown in dozens of countries around the world. But only now, six years after it first appeared on the BBC, is the programme - called "Kancl" in Czech - being shown here.

This time two weeks US President George Bush will be here in Prague to attend a conference on democracy and security. The American leader will also discuss the planned building of a US radar base in central Bohemia with senior Czech politicians, during a visit that is expected to last a day and a half. A number of anti-Bush protests have already been announced, and we can expect the kind of security operation rarely seen in the Czech capital.

As the summer approaches many Czechs have begun planning their holidays, and those keen on travelling abroad couldn't choose a better time than now. The weakening US dollar, dropping tour prices, and above all higher spending power have all had an impact. In short, many vacations abroad for Czechs have never been cheaper.

Last week was no doubt an important one for Czech mountaineering fans: two Czech climbers in separate expeditions conquered Mt Everest: at 8,848 metres the world's tallest peak. Klara Polackova made headlines first last Wednesday, when she become the first Czech female to summit Everest and two days later the peak was reached by the highly-prolific Pavel Bem, Prague's lord mayor.

The case of the little boy abused by his mother is beginning to have political ramifications, two weeks after the seven-year-old was found bound and naked in a broom cupboard. Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek says he wants new legislation to improve the protection of children, while the education minister is calling for tighter controls over home schooling in the Czech Republic.

Experts predicted that a new record could be set on Sunday when a work by the Czech-born abstract artist Frantisek Kupka was going under the hammer in Prague. They were right: the oil on canvas was sold to an anonymous bidder for 13.4 million crowns (around 642,500 dollars), a price that would have been unthinkable on the Czech market a decade ago.

A hospital in West Bohemia experienced a dramatic night this week when its generators gave way during a local blackout. Medical staff manually operated life-saving equipment for two long hours and managed to save all 300 patients. The local governor has now ordered a detailed report on why the hospital's emergency power supply failed.