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The Czech Republic has a rich tradition of winter sports, thanks to its climate and also a ring of mountain ranges that surround the whole country and provide plentiful skiing opportunities. Generations of Czechs took compulsory skiing courses at primary and secondary school, and also at university. With the ski season just beginning, I paid a visit to a ski gear shop in Prague and enquired about where exactly people go skiing these days.

The largest ever Canadian delegation visited Prague last Friday, making their way through all ten countries set to join the European Union next year. A group of Senior level officials representing various departments came to forge new relations and intensify dialogue with the Czech Republic. With the country's imminent EU accession, Canada will look at the Czech Republic with new eyes. Not only is the EU Canada's second largest trading partner but Canada is also close to Europe in many of its cultural and social values. Canada straddles the Atlantic

During the second half of the 1980s, the tension that was created after the 1968 Soviet-led invasion in Czechoslovakia had eased, especially after the introduction of Mikhail Gorbachev's Perestroika reforms in the Soviet Union. The Czechoslovak leadership, however, still headed by Gustav Husak who came to power after the '68 invasion, was suspicious of movements intended to "reform communism from within" and continued to embrace a hard line. But by 1988 there were organized demonstrations demanding change and with the fall of the Berlin Wall and

Last week was European Week of Science and Technology. The Czech Republic joined it with a number of events and discussions showing the highlights, but also unveiling the challenges the Czech scientific community is facing. What are the biggest problems Czech science is confronting?

Last Tuesday, some shocking news stirred the quiet atmosphere of what was a national holiday here in the Czech Republic. A report published by the German branch of the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF said child prostitution was rampant on the German-Czech border, with paedophiles flocking to the region from throughout Europe. The report went on to say that often the children were pimped by their own relatives, adding that the youngest children offered for sex were mere infants. The Czech authorities immediately dismissed the report. Prime

October 28th marks the 85th anniversary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia. Many say that the legacy that Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, the founder and first president of Czechoslovakia, bestowed on his nation was one of democracy and not nationalism. But it was the birth of a sense of nationalism or rather national identity that led to Czechoslovakia's foundation - Czechs and Slovaks united in their opposition to Austro-Hungarian rule, proud to be Czechoslovak and not just a small part of a large monarchy. But what is it like today? With globalisation,

If you ask any Czech to describe the country's court system in one word, most people would probably say "slow". Although the Czech Republic has the largest number of judges per head of population in Europe, there are currently around 70,000 court cases which have been dragging on for more than three years. More and more often, people whose court cases have lasted for too long without a result resort to filing a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights. In several cases the Strasbourg court has ruled in the plaintiffs' favour and ordered

The transfer of the German-speaking minority from Czechoslovakia after the end of the Second World War remains the topic of discussions between Czech politicians and their counterparts and pressure groups in Germany and Austria. It is also a subject of extensive historical research. Much less is known about the mass exodus of the Czech population from the border regions of Bohemia and Moravia, surrendered to Nazi Germany following the Munich Agreement in 1938.

Last week saw one of the biggest gatherings of Czechs abroad in Prague. Organised by Charles University, with the support of the City of Prague and the Foreign Ministry, hundreds of Czechs who have migrated to other countries were invited to meet and discuss current relations with their country of origin. It was a full week of exhibitions, seminars, lunches, and discussion forums all concentrating on topics involving Czechs abroad - from light issues such as architecture and film, to more complicated topics like the restitution of property and

Women represent 51 percent of the Czech population. However, that fact is not reflected in the government or parliament. Women are underrepresented in influential posts in politics, in public administration and in the private sector. 17 percent of MPs in the lower house are women, in the Senate the figure is 12 percent. In the Czech Republic, women receive about 74 percent of the salaries paid to men on average. Women managers and professionals receive only 55 percent of the salaries their male colleagues get.