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It is being described as Pakistan’s 9/11. Saturday night’s terrorist attack on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad left a trail of death and destruction in its wake – at least 53 people were killed and 260 injured. Among the victims was the recently appointed Czech ambassador to Pakistan Ivo Ždárek.

The Maharal Institute, a new Jewish studies centre dedicated to the 16th century rabbi, philosopher and scholar Yehuda Loew, opened in Prague on Thursday. Founded by the Prague Chabad Centre, the Institute aims to spread the legacy and the teaching of the great rabbi Loew, a legendary figure in the history of the Czech capital.

The Czech Republic is due to take up the rotating EU presidency at the start of 2009 – at a particularly challenging time. The prospects of EU enlargement to include western Balkan countries are a point of controversy with some members fearing instability from the region and others pointing out that until the Lisbon Treaty is in force the EU should not take on more members. Michaela Jelínková from the Government’s Office for European Affairs outlines some of the challenges ahead and explains why the Czech Republic is committed to pushing ahead

Disaster struck the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in the US state of Iowa in June, when extreme flooding submerged the museum building. The damage caused to the building and its contents is thought to run into millions of dollars, and is expected to take years to repair. But the work should be made that little bit easier by a million-crown contribution from the Czech government which has just been announced. The museum’s director Gail Naughton has been in the Czech Republic over the last week to discuss the terms of the gift. I caught

Around 100 people gathered on Thursday outside Indian embassies in the Czech Republic, Austria and Canada to protest the imprisonment of Emil Kučera, a Czech entomologist who was sentenced to three years in jail in the Indian state of West Bengal last week for illegally gathering rare insects.

It is a saga that has dragged on for almost two years - a pair of babies from Brno were accidentally exchanged at birth and given to the wrong parents. The mistake was discovered only a year later when the father of one of the children went for a paternity test, which revealed that neither the mother nor the father were the biological parents of their baby. Now the families are in court suing the hospital involved in the mix up, testifying for the first time this week. The families are each seeking 6 million crowns in compensation in what is proving

A two-day conference for Czech expatriates has just come to a close in Prague. The event attracted dozens of Czechs who left their homeland for a range of different reasons. Some were forced out by an unsympathetic regime, others sought better living conditions abroad, some fell in love. The meeting gave expatriates a chance to share their experiences, as well as defend their interests.

In a tent at the bottom of Wenceslas Square, a month-long project is has just got underway looking at the square both past and future. Prague’s main thoroughfare is set to be developed and changed in the coming years, with planners hoping to do away with the rather shabby image it has developed. The exhibition opened with a display of photographs by the renowned Czech photojournalist Vilém Kropp.

Since the beginning of the year the Czech capital and Central Bohemia have seen a marked increase in the incidence of Hepatitis A, a disease that can be caught off contaminated food or eating utensils or other objects. Almost 400 people, now including a number of school children, have come down with the disease since January – a jump of epidemic proportions from last year’s 128. Although hygiene centres, hospitals and schools have mobilised against the threat, things are still expected to get worse before the current epidemic is stifled.

Czech expatriates from as far afield as Australia and the United States have been meeting in Prague this week for a conference called ‘Czechs and Exile: 1948 and 1968’. Those present have been remembering the historic events that prompted them to leave the country, as well as comparing notes on Czech expatriate organizations in their different regions. Milan Kocourek is one of the people speaking at the conference. He has lived in Britain for the last 40 years, where he has worked for both the BBC and, today, Czech Radio. I met Mr Kocourek at the