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Christmas is over and the end of the year is quickly approaching. This is a time to recap, to reflect on the past year, to try to anticipate what the coming year will bring and to make New Year's resolutions.

All today's front pages are dominated by reports on Thursday's blasts in the Turkish city of Istanbul accompanied by photos of the scenes of destruction. The papers also carry statements by the US President George W. Bush and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair condemning the attacks.

Former Czech president Vaclav Havel was awarded the first ever Ambassador of Conscience award by the human rights organization Amnesty International in the Irish capital, Dublin on Thursday night. The title for the award was inspired by a poem written by the Irish Nobel Literature Laureate Seamus Heaney to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of Amnesty International in 1986.

In the world press the plight of independent journalists in Belarus has been largely ignored in recent years, but on Friday the former Czech president Vaclav Havel offered a symbolic gesture of support to one journalist struggling under the Lukashenko regime. Mr Havel received the Hanno R. Ellenbogen award for his contribution to democracy in Central Europe and decided to pass on the financial part of the award to Andrej Dynko, editor-in-chief of the independent Belarussian political and cultural weekly, Nasha Niva. It was an act of solidarity

A meeting of representatives of World Religions took place on Sunday at Prague's Obecni Dum, or Municipal House. Former Czech President Vaclav Havel brought together prominent Buddhist, Islamic, Jewish and Christian leaders including his Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. It was a follow-up to a five-year series of Forum 2000 conferences that Mr Havel has arranged in Prague since 1997. He opened the forum to discussion by reminding the public of the importance of humility before the order of nature; our political social landscape has entered a chase

On Tuesday, Parliament presented former president Vaclav Havel with the Czech Republic's highest honours, the Order of the White Lion, First Class, and the Order of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, First Class, the latter named after the founder and first president of Czechoslovakia. Speaking after the ceremony, Mr Havel, one of the most important Czech figures of the post-Communist era, said he regarded the awards as a tribute to the values he had believed in all his life: democracy, freedom and human rights.

One man dominates the front pages today - and that man is the former president Vaclav Havel - shown receiving the country's highest state distinctions. The papers have all noted the public snub to him by President Klaus who absented himself from the ceremony on what the papers call a very flimsy excuse.

Former Czech president Vaclav Havel is well-known as a champion of human rights, but he hasn't been resting on his laurels since stepping down as president in January. From Wednesday to Friday this week, Mr Havel's Office and the Forum 2000 Foundation are holding a conference at Prague's Municipal House entitled "Bridging Global Gaps". Forum 2000 Foundation's Oldrich Cerny told Dita Asiedu more about the aim of this week's conference:

Making the headlines today - news that former Communist official Karel Hoffman has lost his appeal in court for his role in the 1968 Soviet-led invasion, claims that the police routinely ignore traffic regulations, and surprising reports that three-fifths of university students would be willing to pay some of their tuition fees.

Former Czech President Vaclav Havel has received the St George Prize, awarded by the Polish Catholic weekly Tygodnik Powszechny. Havel is the first Czech to receive the prize. Also awarded was Polish journalist, human rights promoter and a friend of Mr. Havel's, Adam Michnik. The prize goes every year to personalities who act for the general benefit. Established in 1945, Tygodnik Powsechny is the oldest independent weekly in the former eastern bloc countries.