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A new documentary that will premiere in Czech cinemas next week depicts the lesser known part of the life of the Czech-born actor Jiří (or George) Voskovec. In his homeland, he is best known as the co-founder and co-star of Prague’s pre-war avant-garde theatre troupe, the Liberated Theatre. Having spent the war in exile in New York, Jiří Voskovec again moved to the US after the 1948 communist takeover of Czechoslovakia. The new film, entitled My Father George Voskovec, follows his daughter Gigi retracing her father’s life, from the difficult beginnings

The post of agriculture minister was filled this week as abruptly as it was vacated with Thursday’s appointment of Civic Democrat Petr Bendl. A close ally of the prime minister, Mr Bendl is an experienced hand in regional and ministerial leadership, but his ties to agriculture are non-existent.

On Wednesday October 5th, history came round full circle in Prague as a bronze statue of US President Woodrow Wilson was unveiled outside the city’s Main Railway Station. The original 3.5 metre tall monument by Czech-American sculptor Albín Polášek was funded by Americans of Czech and Slovak descent and erected on 4th July 1928. It was pulled down by the Nazis 70 years ago and a restored copy has just been re-erected by the non-profit organization The American Friends of the Czech Republic.

Former Czech president and playwright Václav Havel on Wednesday turns 75. Hundreds of people from the Czech Republic and abroad have sent well-wishes to the man who has become a symbol of his nation’s yearning for freedom and democracy and whose life story astonished the world. Now, eight years after leaving office, Mr Havel is gradually turning into a legend in his own country as well.

Reports surfaced on Tuesday that a number of representatives of the Czech Roma community are considering founding a new party focussing on Roma issues, including how to tackle long-standing social problems and ethnic tension between communities. Those have grown especially in North Bohemia in recent weeks. While some, like notable sociologist Ivan Gabal have praised the project so far – he told a national Czech newspaper such a party could “change the atmosphere in Czech politics and improve the social climate”, many others are sceptical, saying

The drawn-out debate over the construction of a futuristic building colloquially known as “the Blob” originally meant to house the Czech National Library in Prague has taken a new turn. Designed by the late Czech-born London-based architect Jan Kaplický, the huge green and purple structure divided public opinion when it won an international competition in 2007 and the project was finally scuppered. Now, more than four years after the original plan was put forward, Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda has unexpectedly renewed the debate.

The special Czech police squad for fighting organized crime has warned that ultra-right groupings in the country have been gathering strength and are now better organized and more active than before the 2010 clamp-down on extremism. The Workers Party, banned by a court ruling in 2010, has successfully regrouped into the Workers Party of Social Justice and ultra-right activists are making an all out effort to use the wave of anti-Romany sentiment in the north of the country to their best advantage. So far the public has shown little sign of supporting

The popular Czech actor, singer, songwriter, playwright, painter, screenwriter and director Jiří Suchý turned 80 on Saturday. In top form, the living legend of Czech theatre received standing ovations at a special concert he held to celebrate his birthday at Prague’s Semafor theatre.

Foreign Minister, and coalition TOP 09 party leader Karel Schwarzenberg has accused the state-controlled electricity firm ČEZ of bankrolling Czech political parties. In an interview for the news-website aktualne.cz this week, Mr Schwarzenberg said it was “a public secret” that ČEZ had financed parties – except his own group, TOP 09. The serious accusations – presented with no evidence or further details – were dismissed by politicians across the board – with the notable exception of František Bublan, a Social Democrat MP, and former Interior Minister

A playground in the central Prague neighbourhood of Podolí has been crowded with, not children, but radiation specialists since Wednesday evening, when the park was found to have up to a five times the normal levels of background radioactivity. On Thursday that reading was raised to 1000 times normal levels at the various source points under the earth. While it is not necessarily dangerous – unless one were to stand over the source for an hour or more – authorities rushed to identify what could possibly be causing the radioactivity, finding a radon