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The authorities have examining claims by a former intelligence agent that a fatal explosion in 1984 was the work of the communist secret police, the StB. Twelve people died when a gas mains exploded in the town of Třinec. The agent claims the whole thing was a secret police plot aimed at discrediting dissidents around Václav Havel, but historians and police are sceptical.

The renowned Australian-born conductor, Sir Charles Mackerras received the Artis Bohemiae Amici Award from the Czech Culture Ministry on Tuesday, for promoting Czech music abroad. A champion of Czech classical music, Sir Charles has conducted the works of Leoš Janáček, Antonín Dvořák and other Czech composers throughout his career spanning over five decades.

Over the next three days, more than 140 high schools in the Czech Republic are taking part in a mock election, aimed at boosting interest among students on the cusp of voting age, in the political process although they haven’t earned the right to vote yet. Students between 15 to just under 18 are taking part, but paradoxically, some of the country’s politicians, primarily Social Democrats ahead of the real national election in May, have stepped up the pressure for schools to drop out. The reason? What they charge is a danger of politicisation of

Generation 89, currently underway in four European capitals, is a project intended to bring together young people from different backgrounds and different experiences to debate their common future in the European Union. Participants from nine EU member states are meeting in Bucharest, Brussels, Prague and Warsaw to talk about where they came from and where they want to go. The project was initiated by the Romanian Cultural Institute to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and co-financed by the European Commission.

An exhibition of Czech photography at the Czech Centre in Berlin recently made waves when two of the artists were told a day before the opening that they had to remove some of their pictures. The reason? Some say the content could be interpreted as child pornography. But the authors of the photos are speechless at the reaction to what they say are innocent photographs. Sarah Borufka reports.

A month before the national election, filmmaker Petr Zelenka together with the popular actors Martha Issová and Jiří Mádl, have caused an unprecedented stir with the release of a viral video called Přemluv bábu - Persuade Granny. The clip takes its cue from Sarah Silverman’s The Great Schlep in 2008, which humorously urged Jewish voters to get their grandparents to vote for Barack Obama. But some viewers here have taken offence to the Czech version, criticising it, if not for its message, for how the elderly are portrayed.

Experts are concerned that a recent landmark ruling by the Czech Constitutional Court on the pension system might lead to excessive government expenditures. The verdict gives politicians until September 2011 to change the way pensions are calculated, but could speed up a general overhaul of the contribution-based system.

In many European cities these days, the bicycle is a completely normal means of transport. In Copenhagen, for example, well over a third of all journeys are made by bike. This is far from being the case in Prague, where cycling amid the city’s heavy traffic and cobbles has more in common with adrenalin sports. But things are changing. More and more people are cycling to work every morning, and, step by step, politicians and planners are beginning to realise that cyclists deserve their bit of space on the city streets. To draw attention to the needs

The chairman of the lower house of the Czech Parliament Miloslav Vlček has been forced to step down, after revelations of improper loan arrangements and reports he helped an associate abuse the state grant system. Mr Vlček, who sometimes seemed out of his depth as speaker, has also withdrawn his name as an election candidate for the Social Democrats.

A Czech anti-corruption watchdog is helping citizens at several sites around the county to prepare referenda for or against plans for massive solar power plants. It is taking the unusual step because it says local politicians are riding roughshod over their wishes and curbing democratic discussion to get a share of the huge amounts of cash at stake.