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In response to calls that such a decision should be made on the basis of a national referendum, ex-president Vaclav Havel said in an interview for Tuesday's Pravo that key decisions relating to national security should be made by Parliament. At present only the Civic Democrats and the Christian Democratic Party have openly supported the US radar base. The Communists are strictly against it and the Social Democrats and the Green Party have serious reservations about it, based on the fact that it is a US project which would not adequately address Europe's defence needs.

A "communist-style" evening at the pub - what's so good about it? A Czech farmer harvests his cabbage field in January. And, the man who advised Oscar winning film director Jiri Menzel in the making of his latest movie "I Served the King of England". Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.

Former Czech president and anti-communist dissident Vaclav Havel has denied media reports that a video aired at a recent conference urges tourists not to go to Cuba. The video is 18 months old and was presented at the event to show solidarity with dissidents in Cuba and let the public know that the Cuban regime's political oppression cannot be seen from luxurious hotel rooms, Mr Havel's secretary said on Tuesday.

In the video, the former president recalls a personal experience of being taken as a political prisoner in Communist Czechoslovakia, from his cell to a dentist's surgery in town where people in the waiting room pretended not to see him.

Thirty years ago a handful of people met in a flat in Prague to discuss the communist regime's failure to observe fundamental human rights. What grew out of that meeting was to become the first dissident movement in the Soviet bloc, a movement which played a key role in bringing about the end of totalitarian communism in Czechoslovakia. And, perhaps typically for a country that seems to produce more than its fair share of oddities and idiosyncracies, it all began with a psychedelic rock band.

Former Czech president and anti-communist dissident Vaclav Havel has urged tourists to shun Cuba as a holiday destination, in a video message showing solidarity with Cuban dissidents. The video shows the former president dressed in a prisoner's uniform, sitting in a make-believe waiting room amongst patients who are completely oblivious of him while Mr Havel recalls a personal experience of being taken, as a political prisoner, from his cell to a dentist's surgery in town where people in the waiting room pretended not to see him. Mr Havel's message was aired at a conference organised by Polish Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former president Lech Walesa, aimed at showing solidarity with dissidents in Cuba.

In this week's edition - playwright Vaclav Havel takes New York by storm in a major retrospective of his works, and also picks up the theatre awards he was denied for more than two decades. And the highly successful Czech film Kolya celebrates its tenth anniversary.

Why are Czechs enjoying less sex than they did under the communist regime? Why is it lethal to let you husband do the washing up? And, an unexpected new challenge for Czech go-go dancers. Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.

Former Czech president Vaclav Havel, ex-prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik of Norway and Nobel peace prize laureate Elie Wiesel on Monday urged the United Nations to take North Korea to task over its lamentable human rights record. In a joint article for the New York Times the three leading human rights activists said an independent report they commissioned into North Korea's treatment of its population yielded "deeply disturbing" evidence, for instance that the government had allowed a million - and possibly many more - of its people to die during a famine in the 1990s, when the government diverted resources from food purchases to its military and nuclear programs.

The former president Vaclav Havel and his wife Dagmar will be spending the next four months in the United States where Mr. Havel is expected to give several lectures. The Havels will attend a theatre festival of Mr. Havel's work and divide their time between New York and Washington. Vaclav Havel recently turned seventy.

The former president Vaclav Havel and his wife Dagmar will be spending the next four months in the United States where Mr. Havel is expected to give several lectures. The Havels will attend a theatre festival of Mr. Havel's work and divide their time between New York and Washington. Vaclav Havel recently turned seventy.