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The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Prime Minister Petr Nečas on Wednesday as part of a brief visit before heading to Germany. The aim was to thank his Czech counterpart for supporting Israel’s stance against the Palestinian Authority gaining a non-member observer status at the UN. The Czech Republic was one of only nine nations that voted against the resolution at last Thursday’s meeting of the General Assembly – a decision that drew criticism from many sides.

The historical drama Alois Nebel won the European Film Award for best animated feature film in Malta over the weekend. Its director Tomáš Luňák thus became the third Czech, after Helena Třeštíková and Miloš Forman to take home one of the prestigious European film awards.

The project to build two new reactors at South Bohemia’s Temelín nuclear power plant represents a huge investment. But the massive project may never get off the ground, not least if the government reassess issues surrounding the project’s financing as well as continuing uncertainty on the energy market.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Prague on Monday, on the first leg of a European tour. At meetings with Czech officials, Secretary Clinton made a pitch for the US firm Westinghouse, which is in competition with a Russian-led consortium for a multi-billion-dollar Czech nuclear project. She says the US bid offers the best technology and highest security – and would reduce the Czech Republic’s dependence on Russian energy.

The Czech Education Ministry has unveiled a new series of comprehensive measures aimed at removing widespread discrimination of Romany children in the Czech education system. Although the European Commission has long urged the Czech Republic to address the problem little corrective action has been taken since the matter was first raised in 1998.

Wednesday’s announcement that Alexandr Vondra is giving up the defence portfolio means that, since the appointment of Petr Nečas’s government in July 2010, 12 ministers have now left the cabinet. Indeed, that’s the highest number of departures from one front bench since the foundation of the Czech Republic. So why is the turnover in the Nečas cabinet so high? And what can we expect next?

The National Reference Laboratory for HIV/AIDS has just announced that in the first 10 months of this year alone, the number of new registered cases of HIV has already exceeded the previous annual record from 2010. This week the number hit the 200 mark – and it is expected to grow further by the end of 2012.

Leaving aside the controversy involving the biggest public health insurance provider and a new round of doctor strikes looming on the horizon, the public health insurance system in the Czech Republic is quite a generous one. But unlike some other EU countries, this generosity does not extend to everyone who lives and pays taxes here. Almost 100 thousand foreigners living in this country have no access to public insurance, and in some cases are denied insurance all together. A number of NGOs have been campaigning to include these people in the public

Civic Democrat Alexandr Vondra announced on Wednesday he was stepping down as defence minister. The straw that broke the camel’s back in Mr Vondra’s case, was defeat in the recent Senate elections as well as his failure to retain a top spot in his party’s leadership. His departure has led to speculation of a possible broader cabinet reshuffle even as the parties in government begin negotiations on a revamped coalition agreement.

Former Prague City Police chief Vladimír Kotrouš appeared in court on Monday on corruption charges, roughly a year after he was caught red-handed with a suspected bribe. On Monday, he surprised many by admitting guilt. The case won’t end there: the funds he admitted to taking are thought only to be the tip of the iceberg.