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The number of universities and students in the Czech Republic has been steadily rising over the last ten years, according to data released on Wednesday by the Institute for Information on Education. A decade ago there were 23 universities, but there are now 60, thanks to a law introduced in 1998 allowing the establishment of private universities. In the last academic year there were over 300,000 third level students in the Czech Republic; the most popular subjects are economics, technology and teaching.

The health minister, David Rath, says he wants to fill a growing shortage of dentists in the Czech Republic by attracting dentists from the neighbouring states of Slovakia and Poland. But the head of the Czech Dentists' Chamber, Jiri Pekarek, said he could not imagine why Slovak or Polish dentists would come here when they can make more money in Germany, Britain or Sweden.

President Vaclav Klaus has had to cancel part of his programme while he receives treatment for a viral infection. However, Mr Klaus, who is 64, is expected to be well enough to make the traditional New Year's Day address to the nation, a spokesperson said.

Heavy snows and freezing temperatures have been causing problems on roads around the Czech Republic. Local authority workers have been working flat out trying to keep the country's roads open. The main Prague-Brno motorway was blocked for five hours on Wednesday after a collision involving three trucks. While in general the biggest difficulties have been recorded in mountain areas, motorists throughout the Czech Republic have been warned to drive carefully.

A team of Czech experts have spent Christmas at a Czech-built polar station on James Ross Island between the Antarctic and the southernmost tip of South America. Building works on the site started a year ago and the station should be completely finished by April. It is expected to host climatologists, biologists and geologists who will study climate change and the origin of the so-called Antarctic "oases", areas where the glacier had receded and allowed some simple forms of life to inhabit the location.

People in the Czech Republic sent a record number of SMS text messages from their mobile phones on Christmas Eve. According to data supplied by mobile phone operators, Czechs sent 58.5 million SMS messages, which is a 15-percent increase compared to last year. Czechs also sent 250,000 MMS's which is twice as many as last Christmas Eve. Czechs also made some 37 million calls from their mobile phones, approximately the same as last year.

The Czech humanitarian organisation People in Need says it has collected 132 million crowns (5.5 million dollars) in aid for the survivors of last year's tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean. People in Need is now running a number of projects in Sri Lanka. Having started with immediate relief deliveries in the first days after the disaster, the organisation has been involved in the cleanup works and restoration of the country's power grid and is now building schools and houses.

Some 70 "otuzilci" ("hardy fellows") braved the cold water of the Vltava River in the centre of Prague in a traditional St Stephen's Day swim on Monday. Among the participants were 13 women and also swimmers from Belgium, Germany and Slovakia. Also taking part were Stanislav Bartusek, who swam the English Channel this year in ten hours seven minutes and a veteran of the St. Stephen's Day swim, 92-year old Ladislav Nicek. This year has been Mr Nicek's 56th time in the 59-year old history of the swim.

Police say that the number of illegal migrants detained on the eastern border with Slovakia has dropped this year. While in 2004, border police detained around 500 people, this year it has been fewer than a hundred. They were mostly Chechens, Mongolians and citizens of former Soviet countries. Police say that overall the number of migrants in Central Europe has decreased. Also after the Czech Republic joined the European Union, the routes of migration to Western Europe have changed.

The Czech-language service of the BBC broadcast its final programme on Friday evening. After the BBC World Service announced it was axing it and several other language services, the Czech BBC failed in a bid to continue as part of BBC Worldwide with commercial backing.

The station, which had a small but influential audience, will broadcast news bulletins until the end of January.

Meanwhile the BBC World Service is hoping to win the agreement of the Czech Broadcasting Council to maintain its English broadcasting in the Czech Republic.