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Next week, from the 25th to the 29th of May, the sixth annual "Nonstop Reading" literary marathon will take place all over the world. Organised by the group Jazz Section-Artforum and the Czech Centres, this year's event is dedicated to former Czech president Vaclav Havel. The readings will begin in Prague, and will continue in Czech Centres all over the world and at the United Nations building in New York. My colleague Dean Vuletic spoke to former dissident Karel Srp, the head of Jazz Section-Artforum, and asked him how "Nonstop Reading"

The United States and NATO turned to the Czech Republic with a proposal to form the first multi-national battalion for defence against weapons of mass destruction, part of the NATO rapid reaction force. Speaking after meeting with other defence ministers from EU candidate countries in Brussels, Defence Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik said on Monday that the request was the first visible result of the reform of the Czech Army. He said the battalion should be formed immediately so that it could begin in January and be operational mid-way through next

Who ever said that European ice hockey players were not as tough as their North American counterparts? Although his career in the NHL is over, Dominik Hasek, who was one of the best goaltenders of all time, continues to compete in many sporting events here in his native Czech Republic. As Martin Hrobsky reports, the Dominator may have gone too far while playing in an in-line hockey game.

Slovakia's citizens voted last Friday and Saturday for entry into the European Union in a dramatic referendum. On Saturday there were fears that the fifty per cent turnout required for the referendum to be valid would not be met. But in the end, fifty two per cent of Slovaks did vote - and ninety two per cent of them were in favour of EU membership.

The Czech governing coalition on Sunday confirmed its fiscal reform proposal from last week, despite angry protests by trade unions. The reform envisages higher excise and VAT tax, lower corporate income tax, slower growth in state employees' salaries and lower social payments. Earlier today Daniela Lazarova spoke with Zdenek Malek, Vice-President of the Czech and Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions to find out what the trade unions' current position is:

On Thursday a Forum 2000 Foundation event was held in Prague's historic Municipal House on the topic "Quo vadis Europa?" - Latin for "Where are you going, Europe?" As you can gather from the title, the participants - who included former Czech president Vaclav Havel and intellectuals from all over the Continent - were there to discuss the future of Europe.

Racism, discrimination in schools, unemployment, decrepit living conditions - Roma have enough problems in the Czech Republic. Now, less than a month before Czech citizens voice their opinions in a referendum concerning their country's membership in the European Union, once again the Romany minority feels left out. That's the way well-known Roma activist Ondrej Gina sees it, as he spoke out about the absence of a special campaign targeted to help the Czech Romany population understand what the referendum is all about.

A survey conducted recently in the Czech Republic has revealed that up to 60 % of Czech men are not only against their wives hiring domestic help, but they're also quite reluctant to help participate in the household chores themselves. They are convinced it's a women' s duty to do the housework.

This year Czech Radio celebrates its eightieth anniversary and Radio Prague, which is part of the public-service broadcaster, is dedicating a short series to the eight decades of radio broadcasting in this country. May 18, 1923 was the day when the few dozen listeners there were in Czechoslovakia could hear the programme broadcast live from a tent at the Kbely military base outside Prague. After Great Britain, Czechoslovakia became the second European country to launch regular radio broadcasting. In today's episode, we look at the very beginnings

The Czech media scene will never be the same again. After nine years at the helm of the country's first commercial television station TV Nova - general director Vladimir Zelezny has been sacked by the company's new owners. The fifty-eight-year old Mr Zelezny, the man behind TV Nova's astounding success, and a Senator since last November, was always a controversial figure on the Czech media scene after making TV Nova the best performing station in the region and then pushing his Bermuda-based partners out of the business. Now it looks like his career