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Burčák season is coming – but not, say experts, just yet. The end of August sees a number of festivals kick off around the country in honour of the sweet, deceptively fruit-juice-like, alcoholic drink. But with Czech grapes still to ripen properly, experts are warning that the burčák currently available is of dubious origin and a pale imitation of the real deal. I spoke to the head of the National Wine Centre in Valtice, Pavel Krška, to ask what made an authentic burčák:

The Czech Republic on Monday expelled two Russian diplomats for alleged espionage, provoking an angry reaction from Moscow. The move has put a further strain on bilateral relations already soured by US plans to build a radar base in the country as part of its missile defense shield.

Every year, for those who simply don’t get enough of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, there is another important film event just around the corner in very same place. It’s called the Fresh Film Festival - a showcase of international student cinematography that has quickly risen to prominence in its six years of existence. This year’s main award went to the Swedish film “Scratches”, about bored youngsters yearning for love in an industrial zone. Not the merriest of topics, but a well-crafted look into young filmmaking - which is exactly

Bad news travels fast and Czechs found it splashed all over the front pages of Monday’s papers. The country’s finances are in a worse state than previously thought with next year’s budget deficit threatening to reach 230 billion crowns (12.7 billion dollars). Among the emergency measures being considered are higher VAT rates, which means higher prices at a time when many people are already skimping and saving.

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.

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.

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.

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.