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Arnošt Lustig, one of the Czech Republic’s literary greats, has been giving salespeople a helping hand this week. Although still weak from an ongoing battle with cancer, Mr. Lustig put a smile on his face and spent a week behind the sales desk at the Franz Kafka book shop in Prague, attracting crowds of people who came to buy an autographed book and wish him well.

The film Taqwacore, which is being screened in the One World festival of human rights documentaries in Prague, focuses on young American Muslims who have embraced rebellious punk rock music, leading to disapproval from some in their community. I spoke to its director Omar Majeed, who is himself Pakistani-Canadian, and began by asking about the origins of the style described in the film as “punk Islam.”

The watchdog organization Iuridicum Remedium is proposing that the European Directive for Data Retention be looked into by the Czech Constitutional Court to assess if it is in line with the Czech Constitution. The proposal, which has backing from 46 parliament deputies, aims to stop the mandatory storage of technical data by communication providers, implemented in 2006 on the grounds of the said EU directive. The watchdog’s Filip Pospíšil explains what data retention is exactly and how it could violate people’s right to privacy.

It’s been sixty years since the legendary Czech three-wheeler, Velorex, first took to the road. Ridiculed by some and admired by others, the curious vehicle gained many fans around the world. Now, the legend is back – on Wednesday, a luxurious remake of the vehicle was unveiled at a car show in Brno.

Local Czech labour offices have been instructed to take a tougher line on permits for foreigners seeking work in the country or those wanting to prolong their existing permits. The instruction is a direct result of the mounting number of jobless Czechs. We look at the new recommendation and who it affects.

Old TV news has been in the news recently here in the Czech Republic. Michael Kocáb, the human rights minister, has slammed the public broadcaster Czech TV for showing daily bulletins from the communist era. It is the same, he says, as if German TV showed Nazi-era news in the 1960s. Sarah Borufka reports.

The National Theatre in Prague is hosting a gala performance in honour of the world-renowned Czech ballet dancer Daria Klimentová, who is celebrating twenty years on stage. Born here in the Czech Republic, she has been a prima ballerina at the prestigious English National Ballet in London for the last thirteen years. On Wednesday night, the National Theatre will be the venue of her 1000th stage appearance. I spoke to the dancer just before her rehearsal for tonight’s event:

The American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic has taken the highly unusual step of launching an initiative of its own to get a new law governing how massive public contracts are awarded backed by the government and passed by parliament. It says that corruption and the fixing of such tenders have got so bad that many foreign firms have given up on them altogether. We asked journalist and Amcham board member Erik Best what it is seeking to do.

The 12th One World (Jeden Svět) festival of human rights documentaries gets underway in Prague on Wednesday evening. Over eight days it will screen 101 films from 30 states around the world, while around 100 directors and human rights advocates are expected to attend. Every year One World chooses particular issues to highlight; on the eve of the festival, its new director Hana Kulhánková told me about this year’s focus.

Transport and services union leader Jaromír Dušek has evoked outrage on the Czech political scene by launching a vicious and homophobic attack on the management of Czech Railways. In an interview for Saturday’s Lidové Noviny, Mr. Dušek said Czech Railways was run by a clique of incompetent gays who had links to homosexuals in the cabinet and the Office of the Government. The controversial trade union leader has now been barred from speaking for the umbrella trade unions organization and is likely to face charges of slander.