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The highest possible punishments that the state can impose have been handed out in a batch of key verdicts on some of the leading players in the Czech methanol scandal which killed 50 and has left dozens of others maimed for life.

As much as the Czech national hockey team would like to be firing on all cylinders at the World Championships in Minsk, the bottom line is that the squad has been less than convincing. On Tuesday, Jágr and co. faced France, the Cinderella story of the tournament, and only just came out ahead, edging the French 5-4 in overtime.

Two exhibitions opening in Prague on Friday will turn the spotlight on a writer closely associated with the city, Franz Kafka. One will focus on his classic novel The Trial, giving visitors a rare chance to see pages from the original manuscript, while the other will present Kafka and his work through the eyes of cartoonists. Ian Willoughby reports.

The Czech Republic boasts hundreds of castles, chateaux, and churches which annually attract millions of visitors. Regular maintenance is a must – a task that requires not just a considerable amount of money but an army of professionals highly skilled in the reconstruction of precious historical sites. The Czech National Heritage Institute has just launched a pilot project aimed at educating new specialists in the field.

The Czech Republic has lost one of its most respected artists: Adriena Šimotová, who passed away on Monday at the age of 87. Šimotová, who was banned from exhibiting in Communist Czechoslovakia during the so-called ‘Normalisation period’, went from a classic painter’s approach early in her career to a more abstract but also figurative style, often working with images in fabric or paper.

On the eve of the Second World War, a 29-year-old British stockbroker by the name of Nicholas Winton, went to extraordinary lengths to save 669 mostly Czech Jewish children by getting them out of Nazi-occupied Bohemia and Moravia. Learning of the plight of the children and their families, Winton organised the so-called kindertransport which left from Prague’s main station, travelling through Nazi Germany to Holland and finally to Great Britain, where the children were taken in by adoptive families. They were saved from the Holocaust but many never

In the coming months the Czech government will need to choose a new European Commissioner. However, while the cabinet is led by the Social Democrats, coalition partners ANO have a lot of power – and the two parties are already deeply divided over whom to nominate for the prestigious post.

This week saw the awarding of the country’s Architecture Grand Prix (or Grand Prize), recognizing projects completed on Czech soil over the course of the year. Held by the Society of Czech Architects together with the Czech Chamber of Architects, this year’s prize went to SIAL Studio, for the conversion of an early 20th century municipal spa in Liberec into a vibrant new gallery and depository.

Once Europe’s youngest leader, Stanislav Gross quit politics over a financial scandal before becoming mega rich through a shares deal. No longer in the public eye, he recently surprised many by saying he had “accepted Jesus” and apologising for disappointing the electorate. Now the Czech president says that if Mr. Gross has indeed found religion he ought to give his fortune to the poor.

The West Bohemian city of Plzeň is known for many things, but culture is probably not the first that would spring to mind. But the industrial city is seeking to change all that as one of only two European capital cities of culture in 2015. And, as Chris Johnstone reports, preparations for the Czech city’s place in the European cultural spotlight are well underway.