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The Czech Central State Archives are having their fiftieth birthday. And to celebrate, archivists and historians from around the world are participating in a three-day conference that began Wednesday in Prague. Archivist Amy Schmidt was the lone American presenter among the estimated 250 participants.

On a state visit to Spain this week Czech President Vaclav Klaus made his opposition to the European integration process a pivotal issue, saying that he hoped "a united Europe would never come to fruition" and telling his hosts that "good fences make good neighbours".

Belarus gained independence in 1991 after being part of the Soviet Union for some seventy years. In two years time, the second term of the country's authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko will come to an end. But Lukashenko, who is widely accused of human rights abuses and has also clamped down on the use of the Belarusian language in favour of Russian, now hopes to have the constitution revised by national referendum to give him a third term as head of state. There is a growing diaspora in Europe of Belarusians opposed to the regime, who

The Paralympic Games, the premier sporting event for elite disabled athletes, came to a close on Tuesday at the Olympic Stadium in Athens. Brian Kenety joins me in the studio now with the details.

Vladimir Spidla underwent a trial by fire on Monday at the European Union. The former Czech Prime minister, now set to become the EU's Commissioner for Labour in November, was the first of the new commissioners to be grilled by deputies in the European Parliament. Mr Spidla emerged from the three hour session joking that a law should be passed preventing this from happening more than once in five years. Daniela Lazarova has been following the story. So, Daniela did Mr. Spidla pass the test?

Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, recently hosted the 46th international engineering fair at Brno's historic exhibition centre. The fair brings together over 2000 firms from 33 countries. Last week, over 100,000 people from not only the Czech Republic but as far as Asia and North America have came to the fair to see what the leading Czech, as well as other international engineering firms have to offer. Martin Hrobsky spoke to Jiri Erlebach, spokesperson for the fair.

This weekend saw the culmination of a four-day erotic fair held in Prague for the 10th year in row. Primarily a trade-show for adult entertainment, Erotica Sex 2004, saw the usual assortment of X-rated stands hawking their wares: from clothes to adult films to jewellery, as well as a variety of strip-teases and explicit performances for adults only. While certainly not to everyone's taste, such fairs have proved popular in the Czech Republic, not just among professionals in the business, and sleazy hangers-on, but also among people who are just

September 28th is St Wenceslas Day, commemorating the Czech nation's patron saint, Prince Wenceslas, or Vaclav. He was slain by his own brother in the year 935 near Prague. But Prince Vaclav was not the only man of that name who played an important role in Czech history.

The European arrest warrant, an important instrument in the fight against organized crime and terrorism will now apply to Czech citizens as well. Late last week, the Lower House of Parliament overrode the veto of President Vaclav Klaus, opening the way for the warrant's validity in the Czech Republic.

There was rather shocking if not altogether unexpected news this Friday when star midfielder Pavel Nedved announced he was quitting the Czech national squad, an announcement following weeks of speculation over Nedved's future. The captain of the Czech squad suffered a lingering knee injury in July at the European Championship and had refused to play for the Czechs until he was fully recovered. But, then he raised many fans' ire by continuing to play - and play well - for his professional club, Italy's Juventus Turin.