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The Czech Republic has hit back at Canada’s reintroduction of visas on its citizens within hours of the move being announced by Ottawa. In reply, Prague has imposed visas on Canadian diplomats and is now seeking tougher measures from Brussels and EU states. The incident marks a sudden souring in normally friendly relations.

The recent flash floods in the Czech Republic have focussed attention on how quiet streams could be transformed so rapidly into raging torrents causing destruction and taking lives. Environmental groups are putting the blame on manmade changes to rivers and the landscape. But while the Ministry of Environment is mapping out the risks, landscape changes to cushion the risks still seem a long way off.

The 44th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which has just come to an end in the west Bohemian spa town, will surely go down as one of the best in recent years. Many believe that there was an improvement in the standard of films in competition, while the glitter factor was also high, with Hollywood stars like John Malkovich and Antonio Banderas gracing Karlovy Vary’s red carpet.

It is one of nature’s marvels – a gate of sandstone created through millions of years of erosion. The Pravčice Gate near the Czech-Saxony border stands on the edge of a region of wondrous sandstone formations known as Bohemian Switzerland. It is one of 77 sites to get into the semi-finals of the New7Wonders, an international contest organized by a Swiss foundation which aims to support man-made and natural heritage sites

The government’s car scrapping incentive scheme had been described as the “flagship” of the recently approved economic stimulus package, but President Václav Klaus believes it’s the scheme itself that should be scrapped. On Thursday he vetoed the stimulus package, arguing that measures such as providing people with incentives to buy new cars discriminates against other sectors of the economy.

This Sunday sees the start of the fourth Bohemia Jazz Fest, which brings free jazz concerts, and some of the world’s biggest names in contemporary jazz, to Prague and the Czech provinces. On the eve of the festival, here’s a preview of what to expect:

The Justice Minister Daniela Kovářová has qualified comments made earlier this week on overcrowding in the country’s prisons. The comments came at the end of a two-day inspection trip to penal facilities around the Czech Republic, and were interpreted by the media as suggesting the Czech prison system was close to collapse. This is not the case, says Mrs Kovářová, although the situation is serious.

Each year, as the Karlovy Vary Film Festival gets underway, the West Bohemian spa town becomes the Czech Republic’s undisputed cultural capital for a week. The epicentres are the cinemas of course, with more than 200 films from around the world. But there are all kinds of goings on that that keep the town abuzz from early morn to early morn for eight long days. Christian Falvey is in Karlovy Vary, trying to keep up with it all.

The head of the Czech FA Ivan Hašek announced on Tuesday he was taking an unusual but necessary step: in addition to his current responsibilities, heading the national football squad. The team has floundered in World Cup qualifying and is now at risk at failing to make the tournament in South Africa in 2010 - unless someone turns it fortunes around. It is hoped that Hašek, a highly-respected former player and coach, could be the right man for the post.

It had been home to Prague’s last remaining squat; now it’s lying empty, its future uncertain. The fate of the Milada villa – and of the small anarchist collective who’d been living in it - has dominated headlines in the Czech media over the last few days since the last squatters were removed from the building. But an improvised plan to relocate the squatters has also ruffled feathers.