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August sees month-long summer schools in the Czech language kicking off all over the country. Students from all over the world converge in the towns of Brno, Olomouc and Prague to study intensively all things Czech. Former student Rosie Johnston follows this year's intake here in Prague.

Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek has come under fire for his support of the police's intervention against CzechTek. The controversy is potentially damaging to the prime minister, who since his appointment has become the most popular politician in the country, according to a poll published last week. Tuesday is Mr Paroubek's 100th day in office, and to discuss how he has managed to make such an impact with voters I spoke to political commentator Vladimira Dvorakova.

The fallout continues from Saturday's crackdown on the CzechTek party in West Bohemia, in which 1,000 riot police dispersed thousands of techno fans with tear gas and water cannon. While politicians argue over the justification for using force, the event is now being discussed up and down the country.

Long-distance swimmer Yvetta Hlavacova has set a new Czech record for swimming the English Channel. Setting off from near Dover on Monday morning, Hlavacova completed the gruelling 21-mile swim in eight hours 42 minutes, an hour and 25 minutes short of the world record she was hoping to break. The 30-year-old said La Manche was the greatest swim of her career, but said she would have needed better weather to enter the record books:

A techno party in a field near the Czech-German border has become a minor political scandal after police in riot gear moved in at the weekend to break it up. Police said they dispersed the CzechTek festival after complaints from neighbouring landowners, but the amount of force used has been heavily criticized.

This year's Summer Film School in the Moravian town of Uherske Hradiste had a distinctly Irish theme, showing a retrospective of over 40 movies and also hosting a number of accompanying events related to the Emerald Isle. Besides Irish films, visitors to the film school could attend workshops with Irish directors such as Alan Gilsenan and concerts by well known Irish musicians like Glen Hansard.

Radio Free Europe, which many Czechs listened to surreptitiously in the Communist era, moved from Munich to Prague in the early 1990s, at the invitation of then president Vaclav Havel. Though security was stepped up at its headquarters after 9/11, Czech politicians say its current location at the top of Wenceslas Square poses a threat to the general population. Now Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has finally found a new, safer location - in a new building in the Prague 10 district of Hagibor.

Prague's Strahov Stadium recently hosted a mass open-air meeting of the Czech Jehovah's Witnesses, where dozens of converts were introduced into the controversial religious order. The Czech Republic is among the most agnostic societies in the world, and the organisation remains small. Rob Cameron has the following report.

It was billed as a cycling extravaganza, but it ended in fiasco. The stars of the Tour de France were supposed to be pedalling their way up and down Prague's Wenceslas Square on Wednesday, but dozens of them pulled out after an argument with the organisers over money.

The Summer Film School in the town of Uherske Hradiste in south Moravia is currently underway. Film fans from all over the Czech Republic have been gathering for more than four decades every summer to watch and discuss good films. One of the main themes of this year's Film School is Irish cinema. Radio Prague's Coilin O'Conor - himself from Ireland - is at the event and Martin Mikule spoke with him earlier about the festival highlights.