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The cabinet on Monday unanimously approved a long-term government strategy for the integration of the Romany minority up until 2013. The first leg of a long-distance run, it aims to create equal work and education opportunities and reverse the ongoing ghettoisation of Czech Romanies.

The number of foreigners moving to the Czech Republic has been steadily on the rise for years. The number of people applying for permanent residence here has declined over the last year however, and one of the main reasons for that decline it seems are the Czech language exams imposed at the end of 2008 for residence applicants from non-EU countries.

The Czech government has taken a cue from the European Union and backed a school fruit & veg scheme to try and get schoolchildren to eat healthier, more balanced diets. Under the programme, largely funded by the EU, students can receive fruit or vegetables at least once a month.

There are just eight Northern White Rhinos in the world, and until last weekend the only ones capable of reproducing were here in the Czech Republic. However, while they were able to reproduce, they were not willing, and they have now been moved to the wild in Africa, where it is hoped they will mate and save their subspecies.

Record cold temperatures in the Czech Republic have taken a severe toll, with nine deaths from exposure recorded by the end of the weekend. Most of those who died were homeless, among them three people in Prague and four in Ostrava. Michael Raymond Stannett is the head of the Salvation Army in the Czech Republic; he described the situation on the ground.

A photograph taken from Prague’s landmark Žižkov TV tower has set a new record for the largest known spherical panoramic photograph in the world. The picture offers a rare 360 degree view over the city and measures 18 Gigapixels, obliterating a record from 2007 - a shot taken in Harlem that measured 13 Gigapixels. The photographer of the record shot, Jeffrey Martin, at an interview at Žižkov TV tower talked about how this idea was first born.

As the Copenhagen climate talks draw to a close, hopes have dimmed of reaching any significant agreement that could form the basis of an eventually legally binding climate deal to replace the existing Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012. Although many are disappointed, Czech climate expert Jan Pretel says such an outcome was only to be expected.

Three years ago Prague’s main railway station Hlavní Nádraží was not a nice place to be – poorly-maintained and dirty, it afforded travelers little opportunity of refreshment. A major reconstruction launched in 2006 is radically transforming the premises which now afford modern terminals, sales counters, boutiques and restaurants. Now the company Grandi Stazioni which is conducting the reconstruction has gone a step further – offering weary travelers some art as well.

Traffic police in the Czech Republic have a new year’s resolution, and that is to cut the increasing rate of accidents in the country that are related to driving under the influence of alcohol. With the number of alcohol-related road deaths on the rise from year to year, in 2010 the police are going to introduce the somewhat radical measure of giving a breathalyser test to every driver they stop. Christian Falvey has the story.

On Wednesday a small bank in the district of Prague 4 witnessed drama of a kind rarely seen in the Czech Republic, when an armed robber took two people hostage at gunpoint and demanded millions in crowns, or he would begin shooting. The assailant, who had appeared in the branch a day earlier, communicated his demands through a police negotiator in the stand-off which lasted almost four hours. In the end, he got nothing: only handcuffs and a quick ride to a police cell.