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New evidence emerged on Monday at the trial of four neo-Nazis accused of racially-motivated murder after throwing petrol bombs through the windows of the home of a Roma family last year. A two-year-old girl was horrifically burned in the attack, which has received unprecedented attention here in the Czech Republic.

The first results are starting to be released from an exhaustive 20 year study of thousands of Czech children. One of the main findings is that stress related incidents in childhood can mark you for the rest of your life. We report on the findings and what the research team hopes to do with them.

One of the best known Czech visual artists, the Art Nouveau painter Alphonse Mucha, was born in July 1860. To mark the 150th anniversary of his birth, the Mucha Foundation is launching an exhibition called The Apotheosis of Love. The exhibit opens in Prague on Friday, before moving on to several other locations in the Czech Republic.

The parties of the incoming government coalition have not got the greenest credentials or aspirations. But on one issue they have earned praise from environment groups after declaring that they will not get rid of existing limits on mining brown coal. Mining unions, however, are up in arms about that stand.

The Czech Republic has a new prime minister and is on track for a new government, after more than a year of political limbo caused by the downfall of Mirek Topolánek’s centre-right coalition. Petr Nečas was appointed by President Klaus in a brief ceremony at Prague Castle on Monday morning. He’ll head a centre-right government that promises austerity measures to tame the budget deficit and a concerted campaign against corruption.

Paul Whitaker likes a challenge, but he is no seasoned endurance swimmer. At least not yet. Last October, the 41-year-old Englishman with a fondness for adrenalin sports set himself a goal, and decided to swim the 175 kilometres from the South Bohemian city of České Budějovice to Prague, almost all the way down the Vltava, and all for a charity challenge. Earlier today I had the pleasure of inviting Mr Whitaker into the studio and talking to him about his big plunge.

The head of the caretaker Czech government Jan Fischer tendered his resignation at Prague Castle on Friday, meeting with President Václav Klaus, who thanked him and the cabinet for governing during a difficult period. Originally, the interim government, formed after the previous one lost a vote of no-confidence, had been expected to rule for only a few months, fulfilling only a few key tasks. In the end, following cancelled elections last October, it stayed on for longer than anyone had expected.

Prague's National Museum this week introduced a plan for a complete renovation of its main building, located at the top end of Wenceslas Square, which has long been in urgent need of reconstruction. The National Museum plans to re-open to the public in four years’ time with new exhibition grounds, a lookout from the dome on top of the building and much more.

The economic importance of the Czech tourism sector has been mapped out in full for the first time. The ministry behind the study hopes that even in these stringent times the results will encourage greater investment in the sector and push through long delayed moves to shake up how it is organized.

Last month’s election saw more women than ever before elected to the Czech Republic’s Chamber of Deputies: 44 (some 22 percent of all MPs). The three centre-right parties holding talks on forming the next government have since put forward three women politicians – Miroslava Němcová, Kateřina Klasnová, and Vlasta Parkanová – for important posts: the speaker of the lower house, and deputy chairpersons, respectively. A little earlier I spoke to Michaela Appeltová of Forum 50 percent – an NGO aimed at promoting the role of women in politics, and asked