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The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is one of the biggest cultural and social events in the Czech Republic. The 42nd Karlovy Vary got underway in the pretty spa town on Friday evening, with the Oscar-winning Hollywood star Renee Zellweger perhaps the biggest name ascending the red carpet at the Thermal hotel for the official opening. Ian Willoughby was at the glitzy ceremony. Radio Prague's Rosie Johnston spoke to him over the phone and begun by asking about the gala opening ceremony.

It was hailed as a revolution on Czech roads: a new points system that would reduce speeding, drink driving but above all the number of deaths on Czech roads, often described as the most dangerous in Europe. It is now exactly one year since the strict new road law was introduced - and we look at whether it has lived up to expectation.

Charles Merrill is an American philanthropist who has devoted his life to education, and one project close to his heart is a programme of scholarships for Czech students. In fact, he has spent USD 7 million sending over 200 young Czechs from Palacky University in Olomouc to colleges in the US. Recently Mr Merrill, who is 86 years old, was thanked for his great generosity by the Czech foreign minister, who presented him with a special award. When I spoke to Charles Merrill, he explained that his ties to this country go way back.

An ongoing dispute over whether the communist hammer and sickle symbols belong on a wartime memorial to Russian soldiers who died during the liberation of Brno at the end of the Second World War has stumped Czech officials, divided the inhabitants of Brno and elicited an official protest from Russia.

The Canadian conductor Kerry Stratton has worked with several leading Czech orchestras and made numerous recordings of Czech classical music. He was recently honoured for his dedication to Czech music, when he received an award from the Czech Foreign Ministry. I spoke to Kerry Stratton at the awards ceremony, and first asked him how a Canadian came to be work with so many Czech orchestras.

What do the following have in common? An Australian film from 1906 called "The Story of the Kelly Gang". The South African court papers from case No. 253/1963 against "Nelson Mandela and others". And the Bayeux Tapestry. Can't guess? Well, they all feature on a UNESCO list of important historical documents, and for the first time, two entries from the Czech Republic have been added to that list.

Farming cooperatives and poultry smallholders are on high alert in eastern Bohemia after a second outbreak of bird flu was confirmed in the Orlicko region. Strict measures are now in effect in all villages within a five kilometer radius of the outbreak. The safety zone is off limits to both the public and press and the army has been called in to help with the culling and elimination of thousands of birds.

The leadership of the governing Civic Democratic Party on Tuesday bowed to pressure from the newly emerged faction surrounding party rebel Vlastimil Tlusty. Party leader and Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek announced that the party would try to revise the planned tax reform in line with Mr Tlusty's proposal. The prime minister has thus given his loudest critic a chance to call the shots, which could either make him or break him.

Well-known pop singer Vaclav Neckar, (who many will remember as the ill-fated 'Milos' in the Czech film Closely Watched Trains), has indicated he intends to fight an allegation he collaborated with the StB, communist Czechoslovakia's secret police. Earlier this week the Czech newspaper Lidove Noviny reported it had uncovered original documents allegedly revealing that Mr Neckar met sixteen times with an StB agent over a period of around nine years (from 1978 to 1987). According to Lidove Noviny, Mr Neckar was listed as an StB "confidant", expected

The Prague City Court has made a ruling that could set a precedent in restitution battles. It has become the first court in the country to order compensation for confiscated property to come from the property's latest owner and not from the state.