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Plans to place part of the US missile defence shield in the Czech Republic have dominated both local and international headlines in recent weeks. The Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek announced in Warsaw on Monday that his country would most likely say "Yes" to Washington. But sharp differences are emerging within Mr Topolanek's centre-right coalition over the plan.

When the then mayor of Vsetin Jiri Cunek evicted several hundred Romany rent defaulters from their homes and re-housed them in hastily erected portacabins and vacant houses last October he must have realized that such a move would make him or break him. But the risk paid off - strong public support for the decision catapulted him into high politics overnight. He won a seat in the Senate, was elected leader of the Christian Democrats and is now Minister for Regional Development. But now, months later, the controversial decision which made him a household

The Czech Republic may be about to face one of the biggest corruption scandals in the country's history. Britain's Serious Fraud Office is running an investigation to determine whether or not Czech politicians accepted bribes from one of the British Army's main arms suppliers, BAE Systems.

A new law that came into effect this year, allowing the police to expel domestic abusers from their homes for ten days, appears to be bearing fruit. While four men were "evicted" in Prague in January, eight people have already been cast out of their homes this month.

On Monday, when Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek met with Polish counterpart Jaroslaw Kaczynski in Warsaw as part of a two-day official visit, it was no surprise that a proposed US missile defence system in Europe topped the leaders' discussion list. The US has asked the Czech Republic and Poland to respectively host radar and rocket bases on their territory as part of an anti-missile shield designed to prevent potential missile attacks by Iran or North Korea. On Monday, both Mr Topolanek and Mr Kaczynski made it clear that they were in favour of

The only foreign language which Czech television does not dub is Slovak. Most Czechs don't mind. For 73 years of the 20th century Slovakia was part of their home country - Czechoslovakia - and Slovak was their second language. TV and radio programs would flow naturally from one language to the other without any need for translation. However things are gradually changing.

The 'Masopust' - or Carnival - in Prague's Zizkov quarter is set to come to a climax on Tuesday. 'Masopust' always takes place towards the end of winter, before the start of Lent. And though many Czechs no longer celebrate it, the tradition of 'Masopust' is slowly making a comeback. The Zizkov Town Hall has been organizing its own carnival for 14 years.

Environment Minister Martin Bursik won two big battles this weekend. At a Green Party national convention, he went a long way towards persuading his colleagues to support the stationing of a US radar system on Czech territory. He was also re-elected chairman and his most loyal colleagues his deputies. But while Mr Bursik celebrates, his party faces a barrage of criticism.

Many in the Czech Republic considered it "case closed" when a Prague appeals court last September confirmed the Roman Catholic Church's ownership of Prague's famous St Vitus cathedral. At the time it appeared the ruling had brought to an end a prolonged legal battle between the Church and state. More than 50 years after St Vitus was confiscated under the communists, it was returned to the Church. But its renewed ownership didn't last long: on Friday the Supreme Court annulled all earlier rulings, returning the cathedral to the state and the legal

President Vaclav Klaus and his wife Livia have just ended a four day official visit to Japan. The presidential couple had a packed agenda and did not break their pace even when the president's aircraft failed to take off on a planned flight from Tokyo to Hiroshima. Although the unexpected technical failure necessitated a last-minute change of plans - it did not detract from the overall success of the Japanese visit.