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On Saturday, September 13th, some one hundred Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies across the five continents celebrated the first-ever "World First Aid Day" under the theme "First Aid - a gesture of humanity which makes the difference". First Aid is a set of practices offering protective and life-saving measures to prevent, be prepared for and provide an initial response to health emergencies, be it disease, epidemics, heart attacks, road traffic crashes or accidents in the home.

All around the world, divorces are no longer rare and ever more children are caught up in fierce custody battles. Last week, Radio Prague reported about a case in which ten year old Honza had a nervous breakdown after his desperate father, who had not seen him for two years despite having visiting rights, picked him up at school, accompanied by a bailiff and a social worker. The case resulted in much discussion on whether it was right to take such a drastic step. It may have been within the law but were the child's feelings considered? A legitimate

Over the weekend, the first reinforcements left the Czech Republic to replace their colleagues from the 311-strong contingent serving in the Iraqi city of Basra. On a rotating principle, the personnel of the Czech military field hospital in the city will also be gradually replaced during the coming month. The Czech Republic recently opened a diplomatic office, headed by a charge d'affaires, in Baghdad, but the country also sent a team of experts to Iraq two months ago to participate in the reconstruction of the country as part of the Coalition

The Czech Republic has often been criticised for its relatively high level of corruption and economic crime. A recent survey carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers showed that the number of detected cases of economic crime has risen since 2001 - by some seven percent. While the most common type of economic crime is fraud, more than 50 percent of Czech companies say the most widespread type of economic crime in the country is corruption and bribery. One of the organisations trying to tackle corruption in the public sector is the civic association

At the end of this month, the Consortium of Refugee Assisting Organisations in the Czech Republic, ends its three year activity in the country. It was established to set up a unified and consistent system of delivering services to refugees coming to the Czech Republic. On Wednesday, the third annual national seminar of the Consortium was held in Prague mainly focusing on legal trends and developments in the country's asylum system, the social and psychological developments, and the integration of recognised refugees and foreigners. In this week's

During the past few years, the two words "Benes decrees" have been ubiquitous in the Czech media. Most recently the term has been used in connection with the case of Franz Ulrich Kinsky, a member of an aristocratic family with long roots in Bohemia, who has filed a total of 157 lawsuits asking the Czech courts to confirm that he is the rightful owner of large amounts of property which were confiscated from him as a child after the war. The so-called "Benes decrees" that politicians, journalists, lawyers and property claimants frequently refer to,

On Friday night our much-loved colleague from Radio Prague, Olga Szantova, died at the age of 71: the end of a long battle with cancer and a life that was quite exceptional. She will be hugely missed not just by colleagues but also by many thousands of listeners, who had grown to know her over a radio career that spanned over 40 years. David Vaughan remembers.

In this week's Talking Point, Dita Asiedu speaks to a PWC representative in Prague about economic crime in the country and ask ordinary Czechs how they think the situation has changed since the fall of Communism in 1989:

Almost fourteen years ago, the communist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe came crumbling down, starting a new era in the history of Europe. In Czechoslovakia, the events of November and December of 1989 came to be known as the "Velvet Revolution". Although they bear much in common, the revolutions in other countries of the region were not so peaceful and rapid. Professor Padraic Kenney from the Department of History at the University of Colorado is the author of a recently published book called "A Carnival of Revolution", which deals precisely

The Clinic for Paediatric Oncology in Prague celebrates its twentieth anniversary since its foundation in 1983. Dr. Guilio D'Angio and Prof Audrey Evans are renowned personalities who have devoted their lives to helping children with cancer fight the disease in the United States. They came to Prague to honour their colleague Dr. Koutecky, one of the founding fathers of the clinic, who retires this year. In this week's Talking Point, Dita Asiedu speaks to these two important personalities and Dr. Tomas Eckschlager, the head physician of the clinic's