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Czech Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek has been named “Finance Minister of the Year for Emerging Europe 2011”, an award presented by the Washington-based Emerging Markets magazine. The award, given for Mr. Kalousek’s commitment to consolidating public finances amidst a worsening global outlook, is seen as confirmation of the Czech government’s prudent fiscal policy and on picking up the award a beaming Miroslav Kalousek was quick to promise the nation “more cuts in public spending” in the year to come.

The issue of giving birth at home once again came to the fore this week after the country's most senior midwife was found guilty of criminal negligence after overseeing a botched home birth in Prague. A baby boy was left severely brain damaged after being deprived of oxygen, and later died. The midwife denies any wrongdoing, and says the complications were unforeseen and unavoidable.

Amidst social and ethnic unrest in parts of the country caused by growing tension between the majority population and Romanies, the Czech government on Wednesday adopted a strategy to combat the social exclusion of the Romany minority. Over the next four years, the government plans to spend up to 15 billion crowns on a series of measures ranging from fighting crime to improving the education of Romany children.

The Czech coalition government on Wednesday approved the 2012 draft budget with one priority in mind – fulfilling its promise to bring the country’s public finance deficit under control. The projected deficit of 105 billion crowns fulfills that target. It would narrow the gap in public finances to 3,5 percent of the GDP, but analysts say that the latest growth predictions for the Czech economy in 2012 will almost certainly throw a spanner in the works.

A government proposal seeking direct, popular election of the Czech president made it through the lower house of Parliament on Tuesday – a significant success for an idea that lawmakers have dealt with eight times already. Nevertheless, while the coalition and the opposition may have reached a rare consensus for the time being, any such change to the constitution remains fraught by the fact that each party envisions very different conditions for popular elections, and many pundits and political scientists see the popular issue as a non-starter.

Prague’s sizeable Vietnamese community recently held its first ever day of Vietnamese culture, an open event in the centre of town which drew a mixed crowd of Vietnamese and Czechs. What has been a rather closed society appears to be slowly opening up to outsiders, as Czech-born Vietnamese become increasingly confident about their identity and Czechs learn there is more to Vietnamese people than an army of convenience store proprietors.

As the authorities struggle to deal with growing racial tension in the north of the country, the town of Čáslav, east of Prague is ringing alarm bells and taking steps to prevent a similar scenario unfolding on its own premises. With between 100 and 150 Romanies newly arrived in town, Čáslav is scrambling to prevent the creation of a ghetto and approving strict measures to ensure law and order.

A team from Prague’s Institute of Inherited Metabolic Disorders has discovered the genetic cause of Kufs disease, a very rare condition that leads to seizures, impaired muscle function and dementia in adult life and for which there is no cure. Scientists of the Prague institute found that the reason behind the disease is a mutation in the gene DNAJC5. Dr. Stanislav Kmoch, who worked on the project for three years with his team, speaks about the discovery.

On Monday, Prime Minister Petr Nečas, Labor Minister Jaromír Drábek and the government’s human rights commissioner set off on a visit to the North Bohemian Šluknov district, where racial unrest is escalating and unemployment and crime are on the rise. Government officials are now meeting with local politicians to discuss possible solutions to a situation that is threatening to spin out of control, but some say their reaction has come too late.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas on Friday wound up a two-day official visit to Israel, heading the largest Czech delegation ever to visit the Jewish state. The visit came a week before the UN is expected to vote on an independent Palestinian state which was one of the issues Czech and Israeli officials debated in Jerusalem. Radio Prague spoke about the Czech prime minister’s visit with Czech Radio correspondent in Israel Břetislav Tureček.