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The Czech Republic will repatriate between 30 and 50 ethnic Czechs from eastern Ukraine, the daily Lidové noviny reported on Monday quoting government sources. The paper says that the Interior Ministry has started verifying the identity of people from the conflict-ridden Donbas region who have applied for repatriation; if their Czech ancestry is confirmed, they could be repatriated over the next several months. The move comes after months of debates on how many, if any at all, ethnic Czechs from Ukraine could relocate to the Czech Republic. I discussed

Czech Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek paid an unannounced one-day visit to Iraq on Thursday to discuss military and humanitarian support for the country in its fight against Islamic State militants. During talks with Iraqi top officials and Kurdish representatives the Czech foreign minister pledged to speed up a contract on the sale of L 159 fighter jets for the Iraqi army and offered to provide rehabilitation treatment for injured Kurdish fighters in Czech spas.

A court in North Bohemia has remanded a nurse in custody on charges of killing several patients at a small-town hospital. The case was initially reported as the possible mercy killing of an elderly woman. But now police accuse the nurse of murdering five other patients, though the real number could be even higher.

The city of Prague has a new leadership and, for the first time ever, a female mayor. Adriana Krnáčová from the ANO party chaired her first session of the Prague Assembly on Wednesday promising to clean up corruption and give Prague citizens a modern and transparent administration.

The popular Czech composer and singer Petr Hapka has died at the age of 70. Many hit songs that Hapka co-authored have become part of the culture, while he was also a prolific composer of music for film and television.

Czech President Miloš Zeman continues to stir controversy in the international arena. After criticising the EU’s sanctions against Moscow and questioning Russia’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine, Mr Zeman has now suggested that Ukraine should drop its NATO aspirations. Instead, he argues, Ukraine should emulate Finland’s neutrality of the Cold War era.

A rift has developed within the Social Democratic Party over the decision of the local party organization in the north Bohemian town of Duchcov to enter into a coalition with the ultra-right Workers Social Justice Party whose members have in the past organized anti-Romany demonstrations in the town. The party’s national leadership has distanced itself from the coalition and called for the local party organization to be scrapped, but the party’s regional leadership has surprisingly refused to comply, arguing that the coalition is perfectly

The situation in Duchcov, north Bohemia, where the Social Democrats have entered into a coalition with the ultra-right Workers Social Justice Party and the Communists and its possible implications for the Social Democratic Party have become a hotly debated topic both in political circles and the media. Party leader Bohuslav Sobotka has expressed grave concern regarding the latest developments which he described as “wholly unacceptable” and has made it clear he would fight to have the local branch of the Social Democratic Party scrapped. I asked

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and several members of his government are heading to Jerusalem for consultations with their Israeli counterparts, the third such high-level meeting since 2012. The agenda includes the broadening of economic ties, as well as cooperation in defence and science and research. However, the main aim of the trip may well be to assure the hosts that Prague has no intention of changing its pro-Israeli policies, says analyst Irena Kalhousová of the London School of Economics.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry summoned Czech Ambassador to Kiev on Thursday to ask for an explanation regarding unspecified statements by Czech President Miloš Zeman. In a recent interview for Russian television, the head-of-state described the situation in Ukraine as a civil war and criticised EU sanctions against Russia. Ukraine called the president’s evaluation “unacceptable” and warned that such statements undermined good relations.