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Rehearsals for Václav Havel’s new play Leaving kicked off at Prague’s Archa Theatre last week, with the world premiere slated for May 22. The work is Mr Havel’s play in 18 years after an amazing career in politics, so it’s not surprising it is being greeted with excitement. Now it has also been announced that the Orange Tree Theatre in London will stage the English-language premiere of Leaving this autumn.

There’s no talk of any Czech athletes boycotting the Beijing Olympics, but some members of the team have expressed reservations about the games being held in China. One of the Czech athletes with the strongest views on the matter is world javelin champion Barbora Špotáková:

What is more important: protecting nature or protecting municipal property? This question is at the heart of a dispute between the Ministry of Environment and municipalities bordering on the Šumava National Park. Environment Minister Martin Bursík this week confirmed his decision to keep the most valuable parts of the Šumava National Park untouched, declining an appeal filed by 15 local municipalities for him to allow trees to be cut down and other measures. They argue that leaving the forest untouched may cause an epidemic of bark-beetle.

The first five star hotel in the Czech Republic has been awarded the prestigious EU-Eco Label award for environmental friendliness. The Hotel Chateau Mcely near Nymburk in the central Bohemian countryside may be luxuriously equipped and charge up to 44 000Kc (2,700 US dollars) a night for it's most exclusive suite, but it is certainly not lavish at the expense of the environment. Every care has been taken to ensure that while guests are pampered and indulged, they are treated in a way which is ecologically responsible as well as. This has meant

Czech customs officials have concluded an ongoing international operation designed to bust drugs networks smuggling cocaine to Europe. They have hailed the action as a success, with 31 people arrested for serious drug-related offenses. The police now view the Czech Republic as not only a transit country, but increasingly also as a final destination for many of the world’s illegal narcotics.

Last month the Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Džamila Stehlíková proposed legislation which would ban the spanking or smacking of children on the grounds that in some cases such treatment can border on child abuse. The introduction of such legislation would see the Czech Republic join other EU countries, including neighbouring Germany. But so far, a majority of ordinary Czechs have said they are against such a move.

Soccer star Petr Čech is the best paid Czech sports person ever, and is surely the most successful Czech of his generation. But the Chelsea goalkeeper is no stranger to bad luck either. After a life-threatening head injury last season, Čech is now in the wars again – he needed 50 stitches and had to undergo plastic surgery after a collision in training left him with a deep cut in his face.

Following the country’s entry into the Schengen border-free zone Czechs can now travel around much of the European Union without having to show their passport. At least, that is how things are supposed to work. But last week Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek complained that the German police were harassing Czechs with unnecessary ID checks on the other side of the border, claims which the German Embassy has strongly denied.

One community that’s borne the brunt of skinhead attacks are the country’s Romanies, 250,000 of whom live in a state of uneasy cohabitation with their white neighbours. Romanies make up half of the three dozen people killed in racially-motivated attacks since the fall of communism. April 8th is International Roma Day, which was first marked in 1971 and has been celebrated here in the Czech Republic since 1990. We spoke to Ivan Vesely, head of the Roma organisation Dzeno.

This week saw the launch of a new campaign aimed at raising awareness of the growing problem of right-wing extremism and neo-Nazism in the Czech Republic. The scheme, organised by the Czech based NGO People in Need and various partners, is called NeoNácek Chcete Ho?, which translates as Who wants a Neo Nazi? It involves several innovative initiatives as Jamie Brindley explains: