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Refundable Bottles by Jan Sverak recently set a Czech record when it was watched by 107,000 people in its opening weekend. Most if not all of those viewers would have seen the film at a multiplex cinema; figures just released show that multiplexes now have 75 percent of the cinemas market, up from 40 percent in 2002. What does that mean for the present and future of cinema in this country?

Visitors to Prague were treated to an odd sight recently - prisoners wearing striped fatigues sitting disconsolately in a pretend jail cell on Wenceslas Square. It was neither a piece of performance art nor an elaborate joke, but part of a campaign run by the Czech NGO People in Need, to remind people of the imprisonment of 75 Cuban dissidents in March 2003.

Up to now, Czechs have always had to cheer on their Olympic heroes like Emil Zatopek and Jan Zelezny from afar, in such far flung places as Helsinki and Seoul. In the not-too-distant future, however, people from the Czech Republic may be able to enjoy the Olympic spectacle in their own backyard, as it looks increasingly likely that Prague may make a bid for the 2016 Olympics. But can the Czech capital really manage to host such a massive event?

The United States' plan to extend its missile defence system to Central Europe has not only angered its old Cold War adversary Russia, it's also prompted a lively debate in the countries that would be on the sharp end of it. If all goes to plan, Poland would host an interceptor base - meant to shoot down incoming missiles from countries such as Iran - while the Czech Republic would host a radar station - meant to track those missiles as soon as they break cloud cover. The Czech government has said a cautious "yes" to the facility, which would be

A recent headline in the Czech newspaper Mlada Fronta Dnes put it succinctly: "More hotels than streets" indicating the number of hotels in Prague 1. Shortly afterwards, numbers released by the Czech Statistical Office confirmed that the number of guests staying in hotels in 2006 - especially four- or five-star establishments - went up year-on-year. In short, there is now more demand for luxury hotels in the Czech capital than ever.

In this week's Talking Point, Rob Cameron examines why the Czech Republic - alone in the European Union and virtually alone in the whole of continental Europe - has failed to ratify the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court.

For Czechs, extensive medical care has been the norm for generations. Healthcare was free for all in this country under communism. Since the Velvet Revolution, Czechs have continued to have easy and cheap access to medical services after the national health system was changed to a social-insurance model similar to that which operates in other European countries such as Germany. This means that Czechs pay obligatory contributions to state health insurers, which are proportionate to their earnings. This entitles them to the same level of health coverage regardless

Six year old Sara Barao is home from Portugal. She arrived as she left - followed at every step by photographers and television crews honing in on a personal tragedy. At four Sara's childhood turned into a nightmare as her Portuguese father and Czech mother broke up and fought a stormy battle over custody rights. When her mother lost the court case two years ago - she and Sara went into hiding. But, at the end of 2006 the authorities caught up with them and Sara underwent the traumatic experience of having her parents physically fight over her

There are hundreds of North Korean women working in the Czech Republic under a system in which half of the money they earn is said to go straight to Pyongyang. They have even been described as modern day slaves. After several years of controversy the women will be soon be going home - thanks to international politics, not the Czech authorities.

There are around 130 casinos in the Czech Republic. Alongside them, there are hundreds more arcades known as herna - gaming - bars. In fact, there are over 50,000 slot machines in the country. That equals roughly one machine per 200 Czechs, over twice the number per capita as in Germany. Adding lotteries and other forms of gambling, Czechs bet a whopping 90 billion crowns last year (over 4 billion USD).