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There is nothing that foreigners in the Czech Republic dread more than a trip to the foreign police. The horror stories are endless – long lines, no English, unpleasant officials and a general lack of efficiency. On Thursday morning an NGO in support of the rights of migrants organized a protest event outside one of Prague’s foreign police offices to highlight the degrading conditions foreign nationals are subjected to in order to be able to live and work in the Czech Republic.

This November marked the 40th anniversary of the death of Johannes Urzidil, the Prague-born writer, poet, historian and journalist. Urzidil was a member of the so-called Prague Circle, a group of mostly Jewish German-speaking authors who met regularly in the city’s cafes in the early part years of the 20th century. While not as well known obviously as his friend and fellow author Franz Kafka, Urzidil has a firm following, and some of them gathered in Prague recently to remember his life and work.

After years of procrastination and foot dragging the Czech highways authority has announced the end of the road for advertising billboards along the country’s main routes. The move follows a vociferous campaign against the unsightly and dangerous ads.

A unique and extremely rare medieval casket has just gone on display at Prague Castle. The 13th century artefact – gilded in gold and silver and covered with precious gems – is believed to contain the remains of a lesser known French saint. But the story behind the shrine is just as compelling as the work itself: it was hidden at the end of WWII, and only re-discovered in the 1980s under circumstances that resemble a Cold War spy novel.

Last week UNESCO added two Czech traditions to it list promoting the safeguarding of so-called ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’. One of them was a tradition also shared by ten other countries across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Falconry in both Bohemia and Moravia goes back many hundreds of years and still has a wide following among both professionals and hobbyists.

A regional court on Monday handed down one of the toughest sentences ever for dangerous driving in the Czech Republic: five years behind bars. The court found motorist Luboš Lacina guilty of attempted grievous bodily harm when his Skoda Superb forced another car off the road in March. It was only a miracle that no one was killed in the incident.

The Czech Republic’s slow and painful steps from regulation to market regarding for rented flats will take a big step forward at the start of next year when rent controls end for around 450,000 apartments. Last week the government proposed accompanying laws rebalancing the relationship between landlords and tenants. But the former say these don’t go far enough, and experts are warning that the courts could be swamped by tens of thousands of cases over rent levels.

Part of a monument to the child victims of a notorious World War II massacre has been stolen. One figure from a group of life-sized bronze statues at the Lidice memorial in central Bohemia was taken last week, leaving local people shocked that anyone could so such a thing.

One of the oldest Czech political parties, the Christian Democrats, is undergoing a radical makeover. After taking severe beating in this year’s local and general elections, they picked a little known figure as their new leader at a party conference over the weekend. They hope that the 33-year-old Pavel Bělobrádek, along with a new party leadership, will reverse waning support for the party, and lead the Christian Democrats back to the political mainstream.

German President Christian Wulff arrived in Prague on Monday for his first visit to the Czech Republic since becoming head of state. While overall relations between the two countries are rosy, the visit was to some extent overshadowed by history and is still expected to raise some thorny issues.