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Europe’s leading human rights body has urged the Czech Republic to stop surgically castrating sex offenders immediately. The Council of Europe has called the treatment ‘degrading’ and unnecessary. Czech doctors have come out in defence of the practice, which they call effective.

The lower house of Parliament on Thursday overturned a Senate veto on a bill that would outlaw publishing transcripts or broadcasting recordings of phone calls intercepted by the police without the consent of the person concerned. If the president signs the bill into law, journalists who violated the ban could face up to five years in prison or a fine of five million crowns.

A vote in the lower house on Wednesday has ensured that the Czech Republic will continue its foreign military missions for at least another year. Following hours of debate on Wednesday, the government won a majority for the continuation of its missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo in 2009, although troop numbers will be lower than the government had previously hoped. Back in December a draft which would have boosted numbers in Afghanistan substantially was rejected. Even this time around, the government’s footing ahead of the vote appeared

The future of an American missile defence project that would include facilities in central Europe now seems to be in doubt. The new US administration is reportedly seeking a major nuclear weapons reduction deal with Russia in exchange for a review of the controversial plan. Moscow, strongly opposed to the project, has welcomed Washington’s new initiative.

It seems hard to believe, but one of the leading personalities of the Czech film business, director Věra Chytilová, turned 80 on Monday. Congratulations poured in from colleagues, actors, critics and even President Vaclav Klaus. On the occasion of her jubilee Věra Chytilová was awarded a golden plaque for her lifelong contribution to Czech film.

The dispute between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas couldn’t have been more timely for the Czech EU Presidency, which has made energy security one of its three priorities for its six months in charge of the European Union. The Czech Republic is holding a number of conferences on energy security, one of which – on the electricity market – took place last week in Ostrava. On the fringes of the conference we caught up with the Czech Republic’s ambassador at large for energy Václav Bartuška, and asked him why the Czechs had chosen energy.

The global economic crisis is having a negative impact on recycling in countries including the Czech Republic, largely dependent on selling its recyclable materials abroad. Now, sources say, the system is threatening to grind to a halt. The drop in demand from countries such as China, has left smaller municipalities in a bind, stuck with the tab of having to get rid of the material. What are possible solutions and what could happen next?

Rising unemployment spells bad news for the hundreds of thousands of non-nationals working in the Czech Republic. Things are especially difficult for workers from outside the European Union, who when they lose a job also quickly lose their legal status. Now the Czech authorities are preparing a system under which such workers could be given a flight ticket – and a cash incentive – to return to their countries of origin.

It’s five weeks since the Czech Republic took over the EU’s revolving presidency, and five weeks since France relinquished it. But have they relinquished it? President Nicolas Sarkozy continues to stride manfully across the European stage, while the newspapers of Paris issue dark murmurings of French unhappiness with Czech “passivity”. So who is in charge of Europe?

Nearly six hundred Czechs and Slovaks volunteered in Britain during the Second World War to be parachuted back into their homeland to infiltrate and support the anti-Nazi resistance. During the ‘critical period’ of 1941-1943, some 300 soldiers were parachuted in behind enemy lines: during the drops, over 90 percent of these men died. Now a new memorial is planned in their honour in a remote part of northern Scotland. I spoke to the honorary Czech consul in Edinburgh, Paul Millar, to find out more: