February

The trial of David Berdych and 30 members of his criminal gang starts Feb. 1. Charges include abductions and the torture of several businessmen, as well as one murder and thefts totaling millions of crowns.

Czech-German relations are put to the test when the Czech Environmental Inspection Feb. 13-19 discovers some 15,000 metric tons (16,500 short tons) of German trash illegally stored near Libčeves, Martiněves and several other towns in north Bohemia.

March

The Chamber of Deputies passes a law allowing registered partnership between same-sex couples, with 101 of 200 deputies supporting the motion and overriding a presidential veto March 15.

The country reports its first case of bird flu when a swan in Hluboká nad Vltavou tests positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus March 27.

April

Rivers swell and flood the country's low-lying regions for most of April, reminding some of the disastrous 2002 floods. Estimated damage: 5 billion Kč ($240 million).

Thugs beat up Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia Deputy Chairman Jiří Dolejš, calling him a "communist swine" April 25.

May

A police officer beats up Green Party Chamber of Deputies candidate Kateřina Jacques during a May 1 rally, which saw anarchists clash with neo-Nazis. Critics accuse Jacques, who is elected a month later, of seeking attention.

Former Civic Democratic Party (ODS) Deputy Chairman Miroslav Macek slaps Health Minister and Social Democratic (ČSSD) Chamber of Deputies candidate David Rath at a dentists' conference May 20 for insulting his wife. The ensuing exchange of blows is replayed on news channels around the world.

Just days before the general election, the head of the Police Organized Crime Unit (ÚOOZ), Jan Kubice, releases a report May 29 accusing the ČSSD of hindering investigations into high-profile criminal cases and being in cahoots with the mob.

June

The country's June 2-3 general election ends in a stalemate, with the 200-member Chamber of Deputies effectively split in half between the right and the left. Mirek Topolánek, head of the election-winning ODS, struggles to put together a coalition that would enable him to form a government.

July

A record-breaking heat wave settles over the Czech Republic, forcing people to sweat through the hottest summer since 1900.

A strict new point system for enforcing traffic laws comes into effect July 1, leading to complaints from both motorists and politicians. Road accidents almost immediately fall by 70 percent, and traffic-related deaths drop by 50 percent over the previous July.

August

Mirek Topolánek is appointed the new prime minister Aug. 16. His Cabinet fails to win the support of the Chamber of Deputies in a vote of confidence 30 days later.

During an Aug. 14-25 conference in Prague, the International Astronomical Union votes to change the definition of a planet, knocking Pluto off the roster.

September

Pavel Slíva, former director of Municipal Technical Services (MTS), shoots and kills the deputy mayor of Havířov, north Moravia, during a Sept. 18 town meeting, before turning the gun on himself. Earlier that day, he had killed a lawyer representing the MTS.

Reports of a terrorist threat on Prague's Jewish sites Sept. 22 leads to a beefed-up police presence in the city center that lasts for days. The attack doesn't come, and police never confirm the specific nature of the threat.

October

Amid much pomp and celebration, former President Václav Havel turns 70 Oct. 5.

Zdeněk Doležal, former top aide to two ČSSD prime ministers, is arrested Oct. 10 and charged with various bribery, blackmail and corruption offenses.

Local and Senate elections Oct. 20-21 deliver a significant victory for the ODS, strengthening its position in government-forming negotiations. Pavel Bém of the ODS easily cruises to another term as Prague mayor, and the ODS gains a majority of seats in the upper house of Parliament.

November

Three Roma (Gypsy) associations appeal to the pope for help Nov. 6, after hundreds of Romany inhabitants of Vsetín, east Moravia, are evicted from their homes in the town center and moved to new homes up to 70 kilometers (43.4 miles) away. Mayor Jiří Čunek is later elected chairman of the Christian Democratic Union.

President Václav Klaus taps ODS Chairman Mirek Topolánek Oct. 8, again, to be the country's prime minister following the party's strong showing in the previous month's elections. Topolánek gets another chance to form a government, which by the year's end he does not manage to do.

Jaroslav Starka, owner of the FK Marila Příbram soccer club, is arrested Nov. 14 with seven others and charged in the 2002 kidnapping and disappearance of Lambert Krejčíř, father of fugitive financier Radovan Krejčíř. Police say Starka organized the kidnapping because he owed Radovan Krejčíř money and wanted to blackmail him.

December

A nurse at a hospital in Havlíčkův Brod, east Bohemia, is arrested Dec. 1 and charged with murdering eight patients and attempting to kill 10 others. Petr Zelenka, 30, told police he wanted to test the hospital's doctors.

— Compiled by Kristina Alda, Hilda Hoy and Petr Kašpar