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The oldest Czech record label Supraphon has a new owner. The music publishing company, part of the Bonton entertainment group, was sold last week to Czech industry tycoon Miloš Petana. The new owner also acquired the publisher’s extensive archives containing more than 100,000 recordings made throughout the 20th century.

EU ministers meeting in emergency talks in Luxembourg on Tuesday agreed on steps to stabilise the situation for European banks, hit or under threat by the global financial crisis. At the heart of the agreement: a pledge by individual countries to raise the guarantee for customers’ savings accounts to a minimum of 50,000 euros, around double the amount currently provided in most countries including the Czech Republic. The move is aimed at calming savings account holders and, by turn, renewing confidence in banks hit hard in the on-going crisis.

A number of hugely important historical moments have been remembered in the Czech Republic this year: the communist takeover of 1948, the Soviet-led invasion of 1968, and the signing of the Munich agreement in 1938. But there is also one anniversary that Czechs can mark with pleasure – the foundation of Czechoslovakia 90 years ago, on October 28th 1918. Among the institutions marking that day is Prague Castle, which has organised several events.

The annual Designblok festival has just got underway at a number of venues in Prague, and this year it’s bigger than ever. Now celebrating its tenth anniversary, Designblok gives people in the capital a unique opportunity to see up close the cream of furniture, interiors and fashion from the both Czech Republic and elsewhere in the region.

Police in Prague say they’ve uncovered a huge money-laundering operation located in the city centre. According to the police anti-corruption unit, a firm based on Prague’s Narodni street had laundered hundreds of millions of dollars, apparently via a bureau de change and a complex of holiday apartments.

The Czech national airline ČSA is celebrating its 85th birthday this Monday. Today, the carrier flies to destinations spanning from Athens to Zagreb, and ranks amongst the Czech state’s most valuable assets, but what about back when it first began? Company spokesperson Daniela Hupáková describes the airline’s humble beginnings:

Plans by the government to increase the number of Czech soldiers in Afghanistan next year have come under fire from the opposition benches. At the weekend, both the Communists and the Social Democrats said they would not back the proposal under any circumstances.

EU leaders met late last week to develop a European strategy to combat the global financial crisis, and the Czech Republic too is set to tighten its belt in many key areas. Dominik Jun spoke with economist Tomáš Sedláček and began by asking him whether recent comments by Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek that the county was in fact an “oasis” protected from the current crisis were true:

In almost exactly a month’s time, US voters go to the polls in one of the most keenly watched presidential elections in decades. There are an estimated six million Americans living outside the US and – with the two main candidates very close in the polls – their votes could well have an impact on November 4th. To get a flavour of how things look to US voters in this part of the world, I met up with Roger Johnson, chairman of Republicans Abroad in the Czech Republic, and Creag Hayes, chairman of Democrats Abroad in the Czech Republic.

Forests in the Czech Republic will undergo some profound changes following the adoption of a new National Forest Programme by the government on Wednesday. The plan seeks to change the composition of forests, introduce different kinds of trees and even limit the numbers of game –all in the interest of making forests healthier. After years of disagreements, environmentalists, hunters and forestry experts have finally reached agreement on what needs to be done.