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The tiny pest known as the bark beetle, which has repeatedly infested coniferous forests at the country’s Šumava National Park, has sparked a number of controversies over the past decades, on whether to chop the infested trees down or let the forest deal with the outbreak without human intervention. A recent survey carried out by Czech scientists, published in the prestigious Journal of Applied Ecology strongly suggests that the forest is able to deal with the situation on its own.

A special event marking 125 years since the birth of Bohuslav Martinů will take place in London this Wednesday, October 21st. Organised by the Czech Centre and Nonclassical label, along with the Bohuslav Martinů Institute, the happening will present the great 20th century Czech composer through London’s contemporary classical and electronic music scene. We have more in this weeks’ edition of In Focus:

For the fifth year in a row, the Prague Czech Chess Association, in cooperation with Czech Railways, is organising a rather unusual international chess tournament. It takes place on board a train that goes from Prague to Vienna and back. Ruth Fraňková went to check-out the event and has more in this edition of In Focus:

Reuse, reduce, recycle: that’s the main idea behind Zdrojovna at the community centre Klinika in Prague, a space where you can discard used or unwanted objects, such as household utensils or small pieces of furniture, rather than throwing them away. Anyone can come to the shop and take these things for free, or attend a workshop where they can learn how to creatively recycle or renovate the discarded objects.

Artists from the Czech Republic, Iceland and Norway have got together in the industrial landscape in North Bohemia for a project called Frontiers of Solitude, examining the transformations of landscape, the relationship of people and nature and the loss of historical continuity.

A group of adventure lovers from the Czech Republic has launched a project to boost tourism in a remote village in northern Albania. Around one hundred volunteers travelled to Curraj Eperm in the Albanian mountains over the summer to build a bridge, reconstruct a local church and mark more than ninety kilometres of tourist trails. All of that out of sheer enthusiasm and for free.

Legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma opened the eighth annual Dvořák Prague international music festival at Prague’s Rudolfinum on Monday night. The world renowned musician, accompanied by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with Jiří Bělohlávek at the helm, received a standing ovation for his performance of Dvořák’s famous B minor cello concerto. We spoke to the head of artistic planning for the festival, Guy Borg, about this year’s event.

Prague is no doubt one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, but how exactly will the city develop in the future? Should the new buildings respect the historical skyline? How many cars should be allowed to park in the city centre? And should Prague be allowed to sprawl outwards or make better use of the space in the centre? These are just some of the issues addressed by the new building regulations plan, which has recently became the subject of a political battle at Prague City Hall. In fact, the plan put together by a team of experts around former

This year, it is 150 years since the first steamboats started to cruise the waters of the Vltava River in Prague. While back then, steamers were used mainly as a means of transport, nowadays they belong among the city’s most popular tourist attractions. I met with the head of the Prague Steamboat Company, Štěpán Rusňák, to talk about the company’s history and its present-day activities, but I first asked him how they endured the recent drought:

Drivers on Czech roads may soon come across a new, perhaps somewhat surprising, traffic sign: a moose crossing. The non-profit organisation Česká Krajina or Czech Landscape has proposed that the road management authorities place the traffic signs in regions where an encounter with these rare animals is most likely to happen. I spoke to Miloslav Jirků of the Czech Academy of Sciences, who is one of the people behind the initiative: