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The world of sport was quick to rally to the calls for change after the brutal suppression of the students’ march on November 17. Within a few days footballers and ice hockey players came out in what amounted to a strike until the country’s destiny was settled.

The former president and one of the key figures of the Velvet Revolution Václav Havel marked on Saturday the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism. A conference “Freedom and its Enemies”, held at Charles University, was followed by a concert “It’s Here at Last”, featuring artists such as Joan Baez, Suzanne Vega and Lou Reed.

The Czech Republic has lost two renowned photographers, Ladislav Sitenský and Jan Reich, both of whom died at the weekend, the former at the age of 90, the other at just 67. Both men had an important impact on 20th century Czech photography, Sitenský during World War II, and Reich during the ‘Normalisation’ 1970s.

Swine flu is back on front pages in the Czech Republic, with the health authorities reporting a steep rise in the number of cases this past week. Close to 500 people have been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus and two people have died of related complications.

It’s the kind of story that makes film scenarios - a husband and wife on the run after a daring escape from prison, just a few months after their wedding. But this story ended badly – within 24 hours of the man’s escape, the police had caught up with them. The man was dead, the woman critically injured. Who are the Czech Bonnie and Clyde and what happened on their desperate flight to safety?

Agnes of Bohemia was a princess of royal blood yet she refused a politically arranged marriage – as was the order of the day – and went into a nunnery, devoting her life to caring for the ill and needy. More than seven centuries after her death she was canonized by Pope John Paul II, just days before the 1989 Velvet Revolution. The twentieth anniversary of her canonization comes amidst speculation that restorers may have uncovered her long-lost remains.

Former president Václav Havel gave a speech at the European Parliament on Wednesday, and the reception was a marked contrast to that given to his successor Václav Klaus earlier this year. Mr Havel received warm applause from MEPs for his words on European identity and integration, and also asked for Europe to be patient with its often troublesome newer members from the former communist east.

November 17 is the anniversary of the start of Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution. But what is less well known is that six days earlier it was preceded by what has been described as the “smog revolution”, when hundreds of people – angered by the appalling state of the local environment – took to the streets in the north Bohemian city of Teplice.

What are you doing to fight climate change? That’s what Australian environmentalist and social worker Kim Nguyen wants ordinary people to ask themselves. For his part, he’s bicycling from Brisbane, Australia to Copenhagen, Denmark. 15 months into his journey, Kim arrived in Prague for a lap around Wenceslas Square and some meetings with the press to promote the idea that if he can cycle half-way round the world, certainly others can cycle to work.

President Václav Klaus is making his own contribution to the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. The Czech president has penned his own assessment of how and why Communism collapsed and how the new leadership, including himself, dealt with the challenges in a book that has just been released.