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It's exactly fifty-five years since the lynching of some 80 Germans in the northern city of Usti nad Labem. On Monday both Germans and Czechs joined together for a church service for the dead, a joint commemoration of the massacre. Details of the event are still scarce, and historians are still working to complete the picture of exactly what happened on that day. has more.

The sleepy South Bohemian village of Lipnice, with its population of roughly sixty people, most of them pensioners, became a temporary home for up to six thousand devoted fans of Techno music over the weekend. Local residents complain that the organisers didn't receive permission to hold the rave in the area, and the district hygiene expert has now ordered the party to come to an end. has this report:

As the International Monetary Fund/World Bank meeting in Prague in September draws ever closer, the executive director of the IMF, Horst Koehler, is visiting Prague to discuss preparations. On Monday morning Mr. Koehler met the chairman of the lower house of parliament, Vaclav Klaus. Immediately after the meeting, I spoke to Radio Prague's and asked him first what the atmosphere was like.

One of the most controversial topics the Czech Republic still has to negotiate with the European Union is the free movement of labour. Many EU members are nervous about the prospect of being overwhelmed by cheap labour from the East, and some political parties - such as Joerg Haider's far-right Freedom Party - have campaigned successfully on the issue. But some analysts say the EU actually has nothing to worry about, and there'll be no flood of cheap Czech labour when the Czech Republic joins the Union. has the details.

There was a minute's silence on Friday at the military airbase in the eastern town of Namest nad Oslavou to remember Czech and Slovak airmen who died serving in the Royal Air Force's 311 Bomber Squadron during World War Two. The 311 squadron was the second of three Czechoslovak squadrons established in Britain during the war, and served mainly over France. The event was held to mark the squadron's 60th anniversary and was attended by a number of veterans. Among them was Petr Uruba, and earlier today my colleague spoke to him by phone. He began

The World Congress of the International Roma Union that was held in Prague this week has certainly made plenty of progress, with a new statute requesting the recognition of a Roma nation, a call for Germany to issue an apology for the Roma Holocaust, and the election a of new president of the organisation. has the details:

Last year twenty Czech policemen volunteered to serve in the international police force in Kosovo. They embarked on several months of training, courtesy of the Interior Ministry. That training included English lessons, to enable them to communicate with their colleagues from other police forces around the world. But there was a nasty surprise in store when they got to Kosovo. The Czech Interior Ministry's idea of English proficiency wasn't quite what the United Nations had in mind, and after a few weeks some of them were sent home because they

The Czech police are prosecuting the author of a website that promotes hard-line Communism. There have been several trials in the past with neo-Nazi skinheads, but this is the first time someone has faced trial for propagating Communist ideas. According to Czech law, the two ideologies are equally dangerous. But do they receive equel treatment? reports.

Germany has thanked the Czech writer and journalist Pavel Tigrid for his work in improving Czech-German relation, by awarding him the country's highest decoration, the Great Cross With Star, given to outstanding figures by the German president. The ambassador, Hagen Lambsdorff, handed him the decoration at a ceremony in Prague in the presence of the Czech president, Vaclav Havel. has this report: