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Czechs go to the polls in just under four weeks for elections to the lower house of parliament. As the deadline approaches, the two main parties have unveiled their final campaign plans. We assess the battle so far and the prospects ahead of the vote.

Member states of the Eurozone are discussing ways of helping Greece and its debt-laden economy, while there are growing concerns about some other countries that use the single European currency. But what will the crisis mean for the Czech Republic, which is itself hoping to adopt the euro in around five years’ time?

The extermination of the village of Lidice by the Nazis is one of the most harrowing tales of WWII, and Czech filmmakers are have long wanted to bring it to the screen. The acclaimed director Alice Nellis is set to helm the project, with some of the country’s top actors already on board. But still what would be an important historical film has been in a proverbial development hell for some years now. Amid a dearth of sponsors, the film’s producers are now looking to the public to help complete the budget. Earlier today, Radio Prague spoke with

April 30 is Čarodějnice, or Witches’ Night. In the past, this date was believed to bring the arrival of spring. People would gather to burn bonfires in order to dispel evil spirits. Nowadays, the celebration is still popular among Czechs, and the organizers of Prague’s biggest witches’ night celebration at Ladronka park are getting ready for a night full of magic and fire.

Uncertainty reigns in Europe as Greek leaders wait anxiously for Germany to agree on a bailout plan for the country’s debt-laden economy. Analysts fear if Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel continues to dither, the euro could be pulled into the abyss as other debt-ridden countries such as Spain and Portugal follow suit. But one man telling Europe ‘I told you so’ is President Václav Klaus, who says the euro is the cause of Greek woes.

Earlier this year Micronesia called on the Czech Republic not to refit its biggest coal-fired power station, Prunéřov, saying the pollution it will produce threatens the tiny state’s future. The matter also proved controversial in the Czech Republic itself, leading to the departure of one cabinet minister. However, the Environment Ministry has now approved the project, despite the fact the plant’s owners ČEZ are not planning to install the best available technology.

It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since the Forman brothers’ Loď Tajemství (Mystery Boat), an avant garde theatre with performances held on an 84-metre long barge, first set out on the Vltava River. But over that period, the theatre, which runs from May through October, has become a Prague favorite. The 10th season has promised shows not only by the Forman brothers but close partners Theatre Aqualung and Dno (The Bottom), as well as international performers.

The Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Spindelegger held talks in Prague on Tuesday with his Czech counterpart Jan Kohout on issues ranging from the Beneš Decrees to the opening of Austria’s labour market to Czechs.

The authorities have examining claims by a former intelligence agent that a fatal explosion in 1984 was the work of the communist secret police, the StB. Twelve people died when a gas mains exploded in the town of Třinec. The agent claims the whole thing was a secret police plot aimed at discrediting dissidents around Václav Havel, but historians and police are sceptical.

Czech children spend a considerable part of their first year at school learning to write, more so than their contemporaries in Britain or France. That’s because in Czech handwriting joined-up letters are very different from printed letters, with an emphasis on perfectly formed, slanted letters with lots of loops and twirls. Now, it looks like learning to write may become easier. A young Czech graphic artist has come up with a new set of letters, based on printed letters rather than the cursive style: