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The reigning ice hockey world champions the Czech Republic beat Finland 2-1 in their final preliminary match on Wednesday evening in Slovakia. Milan Michálek and Jaromír Jágr scored for the Czechs, while goalie Ondřej Pavelec only allowed a goal in the dying seconds. The team has shown its strength, finished first in Group D without losing any points and needs only one more win to guarantee a spot in the first sudden death round, the quarterfinals.

A now famous appeal broadcast from the Czech Radio building on May 5, 1945, sparked the Prague Uprising. After hearing it on the air, thousands of people took to the streets to fight the Nazi oppressors. On Thursday, several events were held to mark the 66th anniversary of the start of the Prague Uprising, including a ceremony in front of the Czech Radio building.

Police in the Czech Republic have uncovered the first ever case of an international terrorist network operating within the country. It has now been reported that eight foreigners from the radical Islamic organisation Shariat Jamaat of Dagestan, were arrested in April from sites around Bohemia, after a three-year investigation for proof of their complicity in terrorism in the North Caucuses region. The news is the first evidence of a long-held fear that the Czech Republic may be an apt strategic location for terrorist cells. Christian Falvey has

On Tuesday the Anifilm festival got underway in the picturesque south Bohemian town of Třeboň, offering both adults and children some of the very best in animated cinema. Last year Anifilm picked up were the earlier AniFest left off, and this year offers offer 200 shorter length as well as longer films for viewers. Earlier Jan Velinger spoke to the festival’s director Aida Abbas and asked her about the opening day:

The killing of Osama Bin Laden by US special forces has evoked widespread relief in the democratic world, but it has also left many questions unanswered – for instance how significant a victory is Bin Laden’s death in the fight against terrorism and how strong is Al Qaeda without him. Radio Prague spoke to Czech security expert Andor Šandor to get his view on the matter.

If you’d stopped a Czech citizen on the street twenty years ago and told him he was free to live and work in Austria or Germany, he would have looked at you in amazement. But on May 1st, that’s exactly what happened - the two countries lifted their final restrictions on Czech workers - and what’s truly amazing is that it’s happened with an almost total absence of fanfare, or even coverage in the media. Equally amazing, perhaps, is that hardly any Czechs will take advantage of it.

The city of Brno, in the south-east of the country, is bracing itself for Sunday’s extremist march through one of the city’s Romany neighbourhoods. A local court had overturned a ban on the march issued by Brno City Hall. Now, police are getting ready to deploy hundreds of officers to oversee the march, while several local groups are planning to try and block part of its route.

The Czech Constitutional Court has abolished another part of the government’s austerity package. The court on Wednesday ruled invalid the taxation of state support for housing-related saving plans, arguing it was approved in breach of the constitution. This is the second time the court thwarted the government’s plans to bring down this year’s budget deficit. Wednesday’s verdict made President Václav Klaus lash out against the court, accusing it of interfering with politics.

Millions around the world are watching with bated breath as preparations conclude for the United Kingdom’s royal wedding on Friday. Interest in the Czech Republic is of course rather marginal, but Prague’s English community is looking forward to celebrating the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton from afar. We found out some of the events set to take place in the Czech capital.

Last week the European Commission confirmed the world’s most powerful laser known as ELI (which stands for Light Infrastructure) will be developed in the town of Dolní Břežany, near Prague. At the cost of 6.7 billion crowns, the laser could spur breakthroughs in everything from nuclear physics to medical diagnosis, treatment and therapy.