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The Czech anti-monopoly office announced on Tuesday it was giving the green light for Dutch brewing giant Heineken to buy the Czech brewery Kralovsky Pivovar Krusovice, making Heineken the third largest player on the Czech beer market. But will a massive injection of cash and technology help improve the image of Krusovice, a brew many beer drinkers turn their noses up at?

The Czech Office for the Protection of Competition ruled on Monday that breweries must change contracts in which they ban their customers, especially pub owners in areas close to the Czech border, from exporting Czech beer. According to the Office, such provisions are not legal and interfere with competition law. The breweries claim they have already corrected the contracts.

Cool Keg - the cool way to drink beer. Czechs are now buying beer by the barrel. The employees of a Czech advertising agency bare all in aid of charity and, two young Czechs take a bike ride across Mongolia. Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.

In Business News: small breweries accuse Plzensky Prazdroj of preventing them supplying beer to some restaurants; Skoda cars are set to enter the Australian market; Czech portals Seznam and Atlas combine their search engines in an attempt to fight Google; Volny enters the digital TV via phone-lines market; and Ceska sporitelna boss Jack Stack makes an unusual swan song.

The American writer Evan Rail spent much of 2006 visiting breweries and pubs the length and breadth of the country, doing research for his excellent new book "Good beer guide Prague and the Czech Republic". In fact, it is unlikely that any other non-Czech has anywhere near his encyclopaedic knowledge of the Czech Republic's beer industry and traditions. When we met recently at a Prague centre terrace bar, I began by asking Evan Rail what the most unusual pivo he'd encountered on his travels was.

In Business News: the government is planning a slew of privatisations to pay for new transport infrastructure; Skoda Auto is the Czech Republic's biggest firm - and the biggest exporter; Heineken buys Krusovice and now controls eight percent of the Czech beer market; Patria is hoping TV ads turn Czechs on to buying shares; and the increasing popularity of air conditioning is affecting power consumption patterns.

Has your car been stolen? Well, steal it right back! The incredible story of an Austrian lawyer in Prague. Give a cow a pint of Pilsner and she'll give you two pints of milk - but will it be beer flavored? And, who is stealing all the manure? Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.

In Business News this week: the EC raps the Czech Republic on the knuckles for breaking a promise to bring the public finance gap below 3.3 percent; the Czech central bank increased interest rates by a quarter of a percent; the number of ASDL internet connections doubles in one year; the Czech government takes the first step towards privatising Budejovicky Budvar, while European beer enthusiasts urge it not to; and Czech drinks maker Kofola increases its sales by 20 percent in one year.

A Europe-wide grouping of beer lovers has called on Czechs to lobby their government not to privatise the country's third largest brewery, Budejovicky Budvar. "Czech citizens should petition their government to ensure that Budvar remains a state asset and stays that way for the next century," the president of the European Beer Consumers Union Terry Lock, said at a news conference in Prague at the end of a two-day meeting. The centre-right Czech government announced the first step towards privatising Budvar at the beginning of April when Agriculture Minister Petr Gandalovic announced that the brewery would be transformed into a shareholder company.

In Business News: an increase in exports countries allows power producer CEZ to achieve record profits in the first quarter; a new player, U:fon, enters the Czech telecoms market; a UK firm has plans to greatly increase passenger numbers at the regional airport in Pardubice; the number of pirated computer programmes used here is nearing the EU average; and the number of Chinese tourists visiting the Czech Republic is rising rapidly.