Current Affairs | All stories

If we were to ask you what countries around the world are still under Communist rule, the most common answers would be China and Cuba. But did you know that the small Eastern European country of Moldova has been led by a Communist president for the past three years? Depending heavily on agriculture, imported energy and with an estimated 25% of working age Moldovans employed abroad, it is the poorest nation in Europe. Former dissident and Czech Bishop Vaclav Maly, the head of the Czech branch of the human rights organisation Iustitia et Pax, recently

The 2004 Olympic Games in Athens came to an end last Sunday. But the Paralympic Games in Athens are about to follow on their heels, starting on the 17th of September. What are the hopes of the Czech Paralympic team?

Czech music lovers will get a rare chance to hear remarkable Mongolian-style aliquot singing live over the next few days at Alikfest, a festival of New Age alternative music with performers from the Czech Republic and Germany.

September 2nd, 2004 is the deadline for Czech émigrés who lost their citizenship during communism to apply to get back a Czech passport. Since 1999 when a law making this possible came into effect, some 8,000 people around the world have made use of the possibility, many of them people who fled the communist regime, or were even forced to leave. The fact that émigrés will in future no longer be entitled to become Czech citizens has upset some members of the émigré community.

Police investigators say that seven boys arrested this week in connection with the murder of an 81-year-old woman in August have confessed to planning in advance to rob her at her home in East Bohemia. Six of the boys were under the age of 15 when the robbery and murder took place -- the youngest was only 11 -- and cannot be held criminally responsible. The case has shocked the public and rekindled debate among politicians about lowering the age of legal responsibility.

Prague's first International Folklore Festival is being held this week. Thousands of people have been attending the event in the last few days and they have been treated to an extensive concert programme and various other items of interest.

Britain's foreign secretary, Jack Straw, was in Prague on Tuesday as the guest speaker at a meeting of the Czech Republic's ambassadors. Mr Straw also held talks with senior Czech politicians, on such issues as European-US relations, whether Turkey should be allowed to join the European Union and - of course - relations between the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic, which he described as "very close".

Around the world September means the start of a new school year for teachers and students, and here in the Czech Republic, school traditionally starts on 1st September. I went to a Prague elementary school specialising in languages, to get a sense of the mood, and also to discuss how teachers are getting ready for educational reforms.

Almost thirty years have passed since communist Czechoslovakia's secret police first masterminded their infamous Asanace campaign - a clearance operation that used intimidation, mental and physical abuse, even torture - to get Czechoslovak dissidents to flee the country. In 2002, three officials received suspended sentences for their involvement in the campaign, while two received three-year sentences. The verdicts were later overturned on a technicality, only to be reinstated once again by a Prague court this week. With the jail sentences one episode

The circus has come to town! All this week at Prague's Letna Park is hosting the annual international Letni Letna circus festival. The festival offers spectators much more than your average circus.