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A controversial campaign by the opposition Social Democrats directed against the church property restitution bill has turned into a major brawl with Czech Catholics and other churches. After church officials compared it to anti-Semitic and anti-clerical propaganda of the Third Reich, Social Democrats leaders fought back and called into question the Catholics’ own record from WWII.

Anti-corruption police raided the offices of the CzechInvest state agency in Prague on Wednesday, confiscating documents, laptops and computers. Although the police have placed an information embargo on the case it has emerged that CzechInvest, set up by the Trade and Industry Ministry to promote Czech business interests, is suspected of manipulating a tender for prospecting industrial zones for foreign investors.

For 20 years there was only one route for world class Czech ice hockey players – west. But since the creation of the Continental Hockey League in Russia 4 years ago, this once clear system is being ever more distorted. Increasing numbers of European and even American stars now decide to head east rather than into the NHL and it is not only players that seem to be flocking to the Eurasian league, but teams as well. Most recently the first Czech club to join was HC Lev Praha.

Tuesday marked the final day that candidates could register for regional and Senate elections this autumn. Candidates will contest 27 seats in the Senate, while others will vie for posts in 13 regional assemblies.

The Czech capital boasts many historical monuments but few of its residents realize it is also home to the world’s last preserved pneumatic post. Using simple laws of physics, messages and small parcels were shipped though the system of pipes until the network was severely damaged by the 2002 floods. But now, 125 years since the Prague pneumatic post was first launched, a Czech businessman promises to bring it back.

The number of cyclist deaths in the Czech Republic has dropped in previous years, according to statistics released last month by the police in conjunction with BESIP – the Transport Ministry’s department of road safety. Back in 2000, for example, 127 Czech cyclists died in traffic accidents; last year the number was 50.

After the deadline for evacuating condemned buildings in Ostrava’s Přívoz district passed on Saturday night, around twenty five Romani families remained in their homes and have been carrying out minor repairs in an effort to get the eviction order reversed. Authorities visited the site on Monday to evaluate the state of each building, warning residents that they are remaining at their own risk. Radio Prague spoke to Kumar Vishwanathan from the Ostrava-based civic group Co-existence who had spent almost a week in the Přednádraží ghetto with these

This weekend saw the Czech Olympic team pick up four more medals in London, including the first gold in this year’s Olympics. The Czechs achieved most of their successes of the past few days in the water, but even before the games began, the Czech team made a big splash in the world of fashion. At the Opening ceremony they paraded around the Olympic stadium in facetious wellingtons with umbrellas in hand. But for the creators of the Olympic opening outfits their success was not a given.

The Party of Civic Rights established in 2010 around the former Social Democrat prime minister Miloš Zeman is slowly gaining strength. According to opinion surveys it would now cross the 5 percent barrier needed to win seats in Parliament and it is doing its best to win over as many rival politicians and as much voter support from the Social Democrats as it can ahead of the autumn regional and senate elections. How serious a threat is this for the main opposition party and are we seeing a change of landscape on the political left? Political analyst

Across the Czech Republic, electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, have become something of a phenomenon in the last year or so. Stores are opening up on streets in the country’s towns and cities selling these nicotine replacement devices. The rise of the e-cigarette in the Czech Republic mirrors its growing popularity for smokers seeking to kick the habit across much of the world. But questions persist. Are they safe? Do they work? The Czech government is currently debating new regulations to ban them from places where smoking is already prohibited.