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The Czech Republic is set to host part of Europe’s Galileo global navigation satellite system, after EU representatives on Wednesday voted to locate the project’s administrative centre in Prague. Ministers are expected to rubber-stamp that decision in Brussels on Friday.

The European Union’s top human rights agency has criticised the Czech Republic over a procedure aimed at ascertaining whether men who seek asylum on the grounds that they are gay are actually homosexual. The EU says the “sexual arousal” test could violate its convention on human rights.

Prague residents have long been used to the city’s efficient metro system but efficiency wasn’t the word that came to mind for many commuters on Wednesday, when a part of the oldest line in the system was closed off for more than four hours. Announcements were played in a loop outside stations every few minutes warning travelers of the situation. The crux of the problem? Heavy snow that had melted in the metro tunnel within Prague’s Nusle bridge.

A replica of an 18th century brig known as La Grace which belonged to the first Czech naval captain, Augustine Heřman, set sail for the first time this weekend from Suez, Egypt. The wooden replica, which recreates all the atmosphere of the historic original, was the dream of a group of Czech sailing enthusiasts. Built in an Egyptian shipyard, the new La Grace remarkably took relatively little time to complete.

Czech education has just been given bad marks in a prestigious international survey. In fact, the country singles itself out as one where standards have dropped the most dramatically over the last 10 years. We look at the results and whether lessons will be learned.

Tens of thousands of people in the Czech Republic have been protesting on Wednesday against plans by the country’s government to cut public sector pay next year. More than 120,000 state employees have held a one-day strike, while demonstrations were organised across the country.

The Czech Republic is bracing itself for what is being billed as the biggest protest since the Velvet Revolution. On Wednesday, around 100,000 public sector workers will hold a day-long strike to express their opposition to government plans to cut their salaries next year. The strike will primarily affect schools and hospitals, but other institutions are expected to join as well.

The latest Wikileaks release of classified information has been dominating world headlines for over a week, with the latest twist Tuesday’s arrest of the website’s founder on sexual assault charges. Now the Czech Republic is set to get its own internet forum for material the authorities would prefer to keep under wraps, with the launch of a similar site by the small political grouping the Czech Pirate Party.

Wednesday’s strike organised by unions to protest government plans to cut the public sector workforce and wages is set to be the biggest demonstration of organised labour since workers’ protests in 1989 helped topple the Communist regime. But away from this show of force, Czech unions have been inexorably haemorrhaging members with some suggesting the strike is actually a demonstration of weakness.

Fans of Czech comic books or series have a fascinating new tome to pore over, the just released Encyklopedie komiksu (The Comics Encyclopaedia). The book covers series and strips published in Czechoslovakia between the years 1945 to 1989. Under the Communists, the art form was largely frowned upon as a Western one, but continuing series were regularly published on the back page of ABC, a long-running science magazine aimed at young readers, still published today.