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A new English-language magazine has hit Czech news stands. The Prague Monitor is already something of an oddity in that the team behind it have a background in Internet printing and are now moving into print. Most of the industry is moving in the opposite direction.

With the elections to the European Parliament coming up, political parties in the Czech Republic are trying to get their issues to the fore. Out of the sidelines of that effort however another issue has commanded attention over the last month and that is the problem of extremist political organisations and their presence in the media.

It’s a party drifting in the political doldrums, and this weekend it will decide whether to stay with the current captain or toss him overboard. The Christian Democrats are the Czech Republic’s second oldest political party and have served in governments both right and left since 1989. But the party appears to be splintering under controversial chairman Jiří Čunek; this weekend the Christian Democrats will decide whether he should stay or go.

A team of Czech scientists has come up with startling findings that a certain segment of the population could be as much as six times more likely to have car accidents. The findings follow research into the links between blood groups and a common human parasite that was previously thought to be relatively harmless.

Campaigning in the European elections has taken a dramatic turn, unseen since the fall of communism in 1989. Social Democrat rallies held around the country have been repeatedly disrupted by people pelting the party leadership with eggs. The egg war culminated at a rally in Prague attended by hundreds of protesters.

It’s 67 years today since one of the most audacious acts of resistance against the Nazi occupiers – the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, acting Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia, by Czechoslovak parachutists. For six decades there’s been no memorial to commemorate the act - an act for which the parachutists and hundreds of innocent Czechoslovaks paid a terrible price. That, however, has now changed with the unveiling of a bronze statue on the spot where Heydrich was killed.

The Czech band Airfare, headed by Czech-American frontman Tomas Lichtag, first broke onto the Czech music scene some two years ago: now they’re back. The group recently released the follow up to their successful Hotel Moscow, a new album provocatively called Do You like My Shit?

Last year, a staggering 230 Czechs died when they were hit by a train, either at a level crossing or walking across a railway track. That is compared to some 21 deaths over the same period in Scotland. So far this year, the figures continue to look bleak; 76 people died between January and May, leading the country’s rail operator, Czech Railways, to launch an awareness campaign, showing just how long it takes for a speeding locomotive to come to a halt. Earlier today I met Czech Railways’ Aleš Ondrůj and asked him why so many Czechs were dying

The Czech Republic became the latest country to record a confirmed case of swine flu on Monday, with the chief hygiene official telling reporters that a 29-year-old man is infected with the virus. The man - believed to be a pilot – was diagnosed with the virus after returning from New York.

Czech authorities have officially registered the first elementary school that is to teach children according to the methods designed by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the controversial Church of Scientology. The school management says the facility will be non-religious but experts fear that the school become a recruitment centre for new members of the church.