Current Affairs | All stories

Until now the Czech Republic has lacked proper facilities for dealing with juvenile offenders committing serious crimes - including murder. But, that could all be about to change. On Wednesday the government approved an amendment put forward by the Education Ministry to create new facilities for juveniles who had committed serious offences, not just as a means of "putting them out of society's way" to prevent them from doing additional harm, but to provide crucial counselling and perhaps a lifeline to turn their lives around.

The threat of terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and instability in oil-exporting regions like the Middle East: These were among the topics being discussed in Prague this week at the "Energy and Security" conference organised by the Programme of Atlantic Security Studies (PASS), a local think-tank.

Internationally recognized musicians, community leaders, teachers and politicians. This is the image of the Roma minority that a European Commission-funded program is bringing to children in the Pilsen region. The Roma are one of the largest minorities in the Czech Republic, and in many people's minds they are associated with negative Gypsy stereotypes of poverty and petty crime. The target audience: Roma pupils and their non-Roma classmates in elementary and technical schools.

This week, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) released the results of a survey conducted in June to test the effects air pollution has on our health. Fourteen EU Environment Ministers agreed to give blood samples to determine how many and what kind of man-made chemicals are in their bodies. Czech Environment Minister Libor Ambrozek was one of them and his result was especially shocking.

Sparta Prague managed to hold footballing giants Manchester United to a goalless draw in Prague on Tuesday night in their Champions League Group D match. In a tough game where Karel Poborsky's side had plenty of chances, the Czechs could have gone ahead, but United was disciplined as ever, and players like Ruud van Nistelrooy and the teenage forward Wayne Rooney, with reliable backup from keeper Roy Carroll, showed enough star quality to keep a shock defeat at bay. But Sparta can be happy. Although this is their first point from three Champions

On Tuesday, theatre directors, actors and playwrights gathered at the Royal National Theatre in London to pay their last respects to the Czech-born stage photographer, Ivan Kyncl, who died of a heart attack aged 51. Ivan Kyncl was one of many Czech artists whose work is better known abroad than at home and the Czech Republic still owes him an exhibition of his photographs.

What you are hearing is Capricio N. 5 by Nicolo Paganini played by one of the most talented Czech violinists, 31-year old Pavel Sporcl. Once you see him you'll remember - the young man never shows up without his favourite scarf on his head. He is a classical musician of extraordinary talent, as his newly released CD confirms.

When the "Koristka case" first hit the headlines it seemed a fairly clear-cut affair - one government MP accused two men close to the leading opposition party of offering him a ten million crown bribe to bring down the government in a no-confidence vote. It had the making of the biggest political scandal in years - but instead of becoming clearer the picture got more blurred - thanks to politicians, the police and the key players themselves.

What is the difference between lobbying in the Czech Republic and abroad? Martin Duda is the deputy director at Czech Business Representation, which represents several Czech business associations at EU bodies in Brussels. The lobbyist who has worked in the Czech Republic and abroad explained why lobbyists in the capital of the European Union have a much better reputation than those in Prague.

Eli Wiesel, the Dalai Lama, Bill Clinton, Shimon Perez, Frederik Wilhelm de Klerk or Henry Kissinger - these are only a few names from the list of participants that have taken part in Prague's annual Forum 2000 conference in the past. The conference was initiated in 1997 by then Czech president Vaclav Havel who invited well known politicians, scholars and other decision-makers to tackle the major problems of our world at the turn of the millennium. On Sunday the eight year of Forum 2000 opened, this time focusing on civil society in a globalized