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The Czech Republic is facing heightened ethnic tension between Romanies and the majority population. In parts of northern Bohemia, animosity between the two groups culminated on Friday after two public gatherings, staged allegedly to protest against rising crime levels in the region, turned into openly racist rallies calling on the Romanies to leave. The government hopes to calm things down by increasing the police presence in the region. But experts warn that more comprehensive action is needed to prevent divisions between the communities from

The Czech government plans to abolish all of the country’s infant homes where babies under the age of three are placed if they are considered at risk or their families cannot take care of them. Some 2,000 infants spent time in these homes last year – but beginning in January 2013, the government wants to place babies in individual foster care. Most experts have welcomed the idea but many warn that much needs to be improved in the foster care system before infant homes can be abolished. Radio Prague spoke to Petra Vrtbovská, the head of the NGO NATAMA

The Czech government on Wednesday approved a package of tax reform measures intended to simplify the tax system and shift taxation from direct to indirect taxes. The planned reform should abolish the so-called “super-gross salary”, levy a new 20 percent tax on gambling and remove tax breaks on some employees’ benefits such as lunch vouchers. Radio Prague asked economist David Marek about the most significant changes introduced and their overall impact.

Czech football club Viktoria Plzeň have sensationally reached the Champions League group final for the first time. On Wednesday, the team defeated FC Copenhagen 2:1 at Prague’s Eden stadium in their second-leg match. Overall they won 5:2 on aggregate.

A town in the Czech Republic is taking unusual measures to combat the problem of homeless people bothering other members of the public – the town council plans to ban lying, sitting or even leaning on concrete waste bins, flights of steps and patches of grass. The town’s mayor says the ban is a last-ditch solution after all other means failed, but homeless advocacy groups say the plan is ridiculous.

Ministers from the TOP 09 party made good on their promise on Wednesday and boycotted a cabinet meeting in protest of the continued presence of the controversial, highly-placed civil servant Ladislav Bátora at the Education Ministry. The party has slammed the official for past ties to the extremist National Party and for insults recently aimed at its leader, Karel Schwarzenberg, indicating things won’t return to normal until Mr Bátora is replaced. Some, however, argue that Mr Bátora is not the real issue at all, and that the scandal is being exploited

British actor John Cleese, best-known for his role in the legendary comedy group Monty Python, will be the face of a new campaign by the Czech Olympic Committee to promote the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. The comedian spent five days in Prague last week shooting video clips to be aired by Czech TV in which he will present of some Britain’s icons in a most unusual setting.

The end of 40 years of the iron-fisted rule by Colonel Moammar Gadhafi in Libya has been euphorically welcomed by many within the Libyan community in the Czech Republic. As rebel troops took over much of the capital Tripoli in the North African country on Monday, in Prague Libyan officials and others raised the National Transitional Council flag to mark the end of the former regime.

Every year Czech clinics perform hundreds of life-saving organ transplants. Unfortunately many seriously ill patients wait in vain for the call to say that a suitable donor has been found. In an effort to increase the number of donors the Czech Health Ministry is now drafting an amendment to the law which would allow foreigners to become organ donors as well.

Ahead of the 43-year anniversary of Czechoslovakia’s invasion by the Soviet Union and her main allies on August 21, a new book offers a hitherto little explored perspective on this traumatic chapter of Czech history. Titled “Invasion 1968. The Russian View”, it explores Russians’ attitudes towards the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia and the trauma that some of the Soviet soldiers involved in it experienced in its wake. Sarah Borufka spoke to the editor, former Russian correspondent for Czech TV Josef Pazderka, about the Russian experience