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Anyone who has ever visited the Czech capital will have visited the 14th century Charles Bridge; but if you think you know the city’s most famous landmark, think again. You may be surprised to learn that part of the structure houses two hidden chambers - large enough for dozens of visitors. The areas, not surprisingly, remain off-limits and even their very existence until now was known only by a very few.

An annual survey on the drug situation by the European drug agency released on Thursday has confirmed that when it comes to the abuse of illegal drugs marijuana and ecstasy by young users, Czechs rank the very worst. This is despite the fact that over the last few years or so the situation in the country has actually somewhat improved.

A group of neo-Nazis named White Justice were planning audacious terrorist attacks on several targets in the Czech Republic, Mladá fronta Dnes reported on Tuesday. The extremist group was preparing both kidnappings and attacks on public facilities, the newspaper said. Some of White Justice’s members had been arrested two weeks ago by the Czech police’s organized crime unit. Radio Prague discussed the case with the man who broke the story, Mladá fronta reporter Janek Kroupa.

The Normální Festival or Normal Festival features films about people with learning disabilities and films made BY the mentally handicapped, and this year’s edition – the fourth – has just got underway in Prague. Feature, animated and documentary films from the Czech Republic and abroad will be screened over the next four days at the city’s Aero and Evald cinemas. Normal Festival will also offer a number of music and theatre performances. At Wednesday night’s opening, I spoke to organiser Lenka Vochocová:

One of the greatest legends of Czech cinema, director of photography Miroslav Ondříček, turned 75 on Wednesday. Twice an Academy Award nominee, he made over 40 movies in the course of a career that began in the 1950s. His most successful works include the award winning 1984 film Amadeus, many successful English and American movies as well as films of the Czech New Wave of the 1960s.

With the dust settling on the protracted Czech ratification of the EU’s Lisbon treaty, politicians round Europe are getting to grips with some of the stalled issues. One of them is the nomination of a new European Commission and share out of the plum and not so plum posts. The Czech government has made this a top priority but political parties are still haggling about who should get the nomination.

A flood-wall that protects some 4000 residents of the South Moravian town of Břeclav is in a hazardous condition, after beavers damaged an important part of the city’s flood protection system. The town is now faced with repairs that will cost more than 30 million Czech crowns.

The president’s unexpected last-minute demand and the delays surrounding the Lisbon treaty’s ratification in the Czech Republic have not gone down well in Brussels and where many now see the Czech Republic as a troublemaker. Will Tuesday’s verdict finally send out the right signal? A question for Jan Macháček, commentator for the weekly Respekt.

After months of fierce opposition, Czech President Václav Klaus on Tuesday gave in to mounting pressure and signed the Lisbon treaty, just hours after the country’s Constitutional Court ruled that it was fully in line with Czech law. His signature concludes the treaty’s full ratification by the EU, opening the way to extensive reforms within the 27-member alliance.

The Czech Republic has launched an ambitious and in some ways unique project to get all public institutions and businesses onto the electronic highway for the purposes of official communications. But the launch of the so-called data box project has been accompanied by indifference from users and some teething problems.