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In April this year many in the Czech Republic were horrified by a petrol bomb attack on a Romany family’s home that left a two-year-old girl fighting for her life. Now, four months later, police in north Moravia have made a major breakthrough in the case, charging four men with racially motivated attempted murder.

This weekend sees the Czech Republic’s second city Brno host one of the country’s biggest annual sporting events, the Czech MotoGP. Up to 200,000 motorcycle fans are expected to descend upon Brno for the big race on Sunday. Perhaps the brightest Czech hope in this weekend’s 250cc competition is 23-year-old Lukáš Pešek. We met up with him ahead of the grand prix to ask him about his ambitions for the race.

Former Czech president Václav Havel has come out in support of the Green Party ahead of October’s early general election. He also backed the party before elections to the European Parliament in June in which the Greens did not win any seats. So, 20 years after he led the Velvet Revolution, does Mr Havel still have political influence? Does his endorsement actually count for much? That’s a question Radio Prague put to political analyst Petr Just, from Prague’s Metropolitan University.

The Czech national football team has been in the doldrums recently with problems on and off the pitch and a big question mark over qualification for the World Cup in South Africa next year. So there was more than the normal attention for the first game under new coach Ivan Hašek, even if was just a friendly.

The Czech army has put a freeze on all recruitment in a bid to cut costs. On Wednesday, the last batch of new recruits for at least one year reported to the military academy at Vyškov to start their training. Before the end of the year, the Ministry of Defence also plans to lay off hundreds of soldiers in a bid to save millions of crowns. Earlier today, I spoke to ministry spokesperson Andrej Čírtek and asked him about the scale of the redundancies:

This week archaeologists revealed they had uncovered a 1,000 year-old mark engraved in an oak tree - the oldest preserved sign of its kind in the world. The exact meaning of the star-shaped mark is not known, although specialists have a good idea it could have been used to designate property. In any case, it is unprecedented for a symbol made a millennium or so ago to have survived to the present day.

In the height of summer, no invitation is more common in the Czech Republic than “Let’s grab a beer”. Although business is down, most evening pubs still get their share of clientele enjoying the golden beverage. Now though, a venue in the eastern town of Olomouc has taken things a step further, not just allowing customers to drink but also to learn a thing or two about brewing.

The Czech Republic has been picked out as one of the worst hit countries for invasive plants and animals by a European study. Although the invaders can damage crops and severely impact biodiversity not much has been done so far to counter them. Environmental groups hope the new research could get things moving.

After months of criticism, Prague City Hall has admitted mistakes were made in the reconstruction of Charles Bridge, one of the capital’s most significant landmarks. City Hall has fined itself some 54,000 crowns (just under 3,000 USD) for the shortcomings – a fine which has been branded by some as ‘meaningless’ and ‘ridiculous’.

Few rabbis and Jewish scholars became part of legends of non-Jewish people. But one, Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel who lived in Prague at the turn of the 17th century, has long been part of a Czech national legend which describes the creation of the mythical Golem. The Jewish Museum in Prague has staged an exhibition at Prague Castle to commemorate the life of the great rabbi.