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The Czech Republic has the potential to become a world leader in nanotechnology, Deputy Prime Minister Pavel Bělobrádek said on Tuesday, referring to the country’s long-term commitment in research and development in the field. A patent dating back to 2004 proved a game changer and a number of firms have since added to the initial success.

Czech Minister of Defence Martin Stropnický has downplayed criticism of a NATO military convoy set to traverse Czech territory on Sunday. The convoy is designed as a show of force on the military alliance’s eastern flank, but has met with opposition from some Czechs, sensitive to the idea of any foreign troops on its soil.

Czech Agriculture Minister Marian Jurečka is heading a delegation of Czech businessmen to the United States where Czech food producers are hoping to find a market for some of their select products. Among the companies represented are leading producers of beer and spirits as well as meat and dairy products.

Ski hill operators this year are fairly pleased with business, rating this winter – and consumer interest – a good sight better than the 2014 season which was dismal. After a slow start (too little snow in December) conditions improved and some hills will keep runs open at least until Easter.

Eight hundred crowns per hour is being offered by the region of Plzeň to surgeons willing to work weekends at emergency rooms in the area of Tachov. The local hospital closed more than a decade ago. But the offered funds – amounting to 16,000 per a single weekend – are apparently not enough. Anyone who suffers injury in the area of Tachov at the weekend has to drive at least 60 kilometres to the nearest facility to get help.

Twelve coffee houses in the Czech Republic will join celebrations of World Poetry Day on Saturday with a special offer: visitors will be able to pay for their coffee with a poem. The pay-with-a-poem initiative, which has now been adopted in over 1,000 coffee houses the world over, aims to bring poetry back into our increasingly hectic and consumerist lives.

A report prepared for the Czech foreign ministry by embassy staff in Kiev details widespread alleged human rights violations occurring in Crimea. According to Czech diplomats, the repression unleashed since Russia’s takeover of the peninsula is leading to growing cases of torture, beatings, detentions and even disappearances.

Czech president Miloš Zeman is facing mounting pressure over his decision to attend an event in Moscow in May marking the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. Opposition politicians, wary of providing a propaganda victory for Vladimir Putin, sought for the Czech government to deny financing for the trip, while protesters have delivered a petition to the Czech Senate urging the body to investigate Zeman’s actions.

Politicians appear to be piling up the pressure on public service broadcaster Czech Television with ANO leader Andrej Babiš’ main company Agrofert lodging a compliant against one of its flagship investigative programmes.

The Czech government on Monday confirmed it had agreed to allow US military personnel and vehicles returning from a NATO operation in the Baltic states to travel across the Czech Republic to a military base in Germany. The operation, titled Atlantic Resolve, was a show of force and solidarity for NATO countries bordering Russia, nervous over that country’s intervention in Ukraine.