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A two-year-old girl is in a critical condition in hospital after a petrol bomb was apparently thrown through the window of her family home in Vítkov, north Moravia. The girl is from the Romany or gypsy minority, and police belief the alleged arson attack could have been racially-motivated. So far politicians have been united in their condemnation, and the cabinet is due to discuss racist violence at its meeting on Monday.

The northern city of Ústí nad Labem is bracing itself for a march by neo-Nazis on Saturday that has the potential to end in violence. The march is going ahead after the city council exhausted all legal avenues to stop it, and a large police presence is being deployed to prevent trouble from getting out of hand.

“Patience with God”, a new book by Tomáš Halík, a Catholic priest and a renowned Czech theologian, has been put out by the US publisher Doubleday and hit the bookshelves in English-speaking countries around the world. A reflection on faith and atheism, “Patience with God” will be officially launched at the seat of the UN in New York on Tuesday. Radio Prague spoke to Mr Halík about some of the issues he deals with in his latest work.

Canada has expressed concern about rising numbers of asylum seekers from the Czech Republic, most of them believed to members of the Roma or gypsy minority. There’s recently been a huge jump in asylum applications - in fact last year there were more refugees from the Czech Republic than Iraq or Afghanistan. So are the claims justified, and what is Canada planning to do about it?

The south Bohemian villa in which the second Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš and his wife Hana spent a large part of their lives has been reconstructed and will open to the public –in accordance with the last wishes of the president’s widow. Following Communist era ravages, a three-year reconstruction has been completed returning the Beneš villa to its original format.

EU environment ministers came to the end of a two day informal meeting in Prague on Wednesday. The talks have been dominated by one subject - climate change – which is a major issue for the Czech EU presidency.

A new report on poverty and gender equality in the Czech Republic for 2008, put out by the international network Social Watch, has criticised the country for discriminating against women on the labour market. The report also highlights issues concerning the country’s Romany minority as well as the situation of the poor. The editor of the report, Tomáš Tožička, explains which of these groups is facing the biggest difficulties.

This past holiday weekend proved one of the most deadly in recent memory on Czech roads. Police had warned drivers in advance to take extra caution with the coming of warm spring weather and not to take unnecessary risks. It wasn’t enough: fifteen people were killed while on the road, five of them motorcyclists. Regarding the latter, statistics released by the non-profit European Transport Safety Council, suggest that when it comes to motorcycle fatalities, the Czechs rank among the worst in Europe.

New facts have emerged about the downing of a Polish plane by communist Czechoslovakia’s air force in 1975, resulting in the death of a Polish citizen trying to flee to the west. For three decades the circumstances surrounding the incident have been veiled in secrecy, but now the veil has been lifted.

Czech bishops have criticized a new translation of the Bible that came out last week. Entitled the Bible – a 21st century translation, its ambition is to present Biblical texts in contemporary language easily comprehensible to the broad public. But Czech bishops point out that the new translation cannot be used in some Catholic services.