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The Czech Republic has lost one of its most highly-regarded lyricists and songwriters, Zdeněk Rytíř, who worked with many of the biggest names on the Czech music scene for more than 40 years. The 69-year-old hit-maker died on Tuesday after suffering a heart attack.

October 1st has been designated as International Day of Older Persons by the UN General Assembly. This year Czech NGOs are using the occasion to raise awareness of the vast divide between the life that elderly people want and the reality they often have to come to terms with. A campaign called Live at Home Longer is targeted both at elderly people and their families who make life-shaping decisions for them.

With barely a month to go until the New Scene theatre on Prague’s Národní třída turns 30, an art installation from Aleš Hvízdal, Marek Volf and Dominika Nettwallová has transformed the piazza underneath the theatre into a giant camera obscura. Until the 4th of October spectators can view the square and the surrounding street through a warped projection in which unassuming passers-by become the central characters of an impromptu virtual stage.

The first ever Václav Havel Human Rights Prize has been awarded to Belarusian political activist Ales Bialiatski. The prize is bestowed by the Parliamentary Committee of the Council of Europe in cooperation with the Václav Havel Library and the Charter 77 foundation. The jury said that Mr Bialiatski, who is currently in a Belarusian jail, was chosen because of his tireless efforts to defend human rights in his country.

The Czech Republic is facing what doctors describe as a critical shortage of child psychiatrists. Although the government is taking steps to address the problem, children in need of care now spend months waiting for an appointment.

The Next Wave festival of independent theater and art is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Starting on Thursday, new and established performance groups and independent artists will show their works in Prague, Brno and Pardubice during the 12-day festival. The festival’s director, Jakub Matějka, spoke about some of the highlights for this year.

For the first time Prague has just played host to the European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS), a prestigious science fair and competition that takes place each year. The Czech capital brought together some of the brightest young minds in science and technology, at a time of growing concern at the numbers of young Czechs deserting scientific subjects for the humanities. Radio Prague spoke to Martin Samek from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague.

The legendary footballer Josef “Pepi” Bican, was inducted in the Czech Football Association’s Hall of Fame on Wednesday, on the 100th anniversary of his birth. Officially recognized as the most prolific scorer in the history of the game, Pepi Bican is said to have scored an incredible 4,500 goals in his career.

The Czech Republic now has a telephone hotline for families of missing children, with a Europe-wide phone number, in partnership with a European network working to help find missing or runaway children and support their families. This week, the non-profit organization Lost Child (Ztracené dítě) received certification to use the 116 000 hotline, which already exists in 22 other European countries.

City councillors in Prague have taken a significant step to try and curb disorderly conduct in the capital, passing an ordinance doubling the number of public areas where the consumption of alcohol will be banned. As of October 3, almost 860 spots in the capital will be off-limits for alcohol, including parks, areas near schools, and city squares.