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The campaign ahead of the Czech presidential election’s second round has heated up following remarks by one of the candidates, Karel Schwarzenberg, about the so-called Beneš decrees. Mr Schwarzenberg’s denouncement of the post-war legislation which sanctioned the expulsions of ethnic Germans prompted an attack by his rival for the post, Miloš Zeman. The outgoing president Václav Klaus, has also weighed in, openly criticizing Mr Schwarzenberg’s position.

On Thursday evening, presidential hopefuls Karel Schwarzenberg and Miloš Zeman faced off in the first of two debates on Czech TV. Viewers over the course of the broadcast had plenty of opportunities to weigh both their strengths and weaknesses; the question now is whether the debates will sway still undecided voters ahead of the second round.

Without actually naming any names, the outgoing Czech president, Václav Klaus, appears to have endorsed Miloš Zeman ahead of the second round of the election to succeed him at Prague Castle. Mr Klaus said he hoped his successor would be someone who has spent his life in this country – which would rule out Mr. Zeman’s rival Karel Schwarzenberg, who spent 40 years abroad. But what effect will Mr Klaus’ comments have on the race?

For over four decades, Czechs have at this time of year – once covertly but now openly – marked the death of Jan Palach, who on January 16 1969 set himself on fire in protest at society’s resignation in the face of the Soviet occupation that began five months earlier. This year one of the events commemorating Palach’s act of self-sacrifice has been the launch of a new website containing a wealth of material on the student’s life, death and much more.

After four months in a Greek jail facing spying charges, two Czech computer games developers are set to return home very soon. The pair, who were arrested for taking photos of a military facility on the island of Lemnos, are to be freed on bail in the wake of a fresh ruling from the Athens authorities stating that they do not represent a security threat.

The Austrian Cultural Forum in Prague has a new exhibition showcasing the work of Viennese-born photographer Gerti Deutsch. She grew up in Vienna and also resided in Paris and Salzburg, but it was in London, that she began to be taken more seriously as a professional woman. She began working as a freelance photojournalist for the then-newly founded ‘Picture Post’.

As Czechs went to the polls at the weekend, some had more choices to make than just choosing the next president. In seven places around the country, people also took part in local referenda, voting mostly on issues concerning public property. In the district of Prague 7 the referendum was meant to decide on how the town hall should go about putting up a new administrative building for the district. With more than 40% participation, an overwhelming majority rejected a plan to build a new administrative building for the district which many consider

The two biggest parties in Parliament, the ruling Civic Democrats and the opposition Social Democrats, are looking for a path forward after the first round of the country’s direct presidential elections. In the elections, the Civic Democrats suffered a rout with their candidate Přemysl Sobotka coming second-to-last. And while Social Democrat Jiří Dienstbier fared far better, coming fourth, he also failed to advance.

The first round of the Czech presidential election was considerably more exciting than many had predicted. A poor showing by long-time poll leader Jan Fischer saw him knocked out, while Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg caused an upset by taking almost a quarter of the vote to reach the runoff. Miloš Zeman came first, but with Mr Schwarzenberg’s momentum it looks like being a very gripping race for the Castle.

The first Czech president directly elected by voters will be either Miloš Zeman or Karel Schwarzenberg. The former headed the polls going into the first round, and confirmed the role of bookmakers’ favourite by coming first with 24.2 percent of the vote. However, while some thought Mr. Schwarzenberg might perhaps squeak past Jan Fischer (who had for a considerable period headed the polls himself), nobody predicted he could achieve a showing as strong as 23.4 percent.