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The Czech Republic appears to have got itself in hot water after the government refused to back a letter from seven Central European countries attacking a German-Russian project for a new gas pipeline. The Nord Stream II link under the Baltic would bypass both Ukraine and make Slovakia a backwater for gas transport.

South Korean president Park Geun-hye is in the Czech Republic on a four day visit. South Korea is the third largest investor in the Czech Republic and the top-level talks are expected to give bilateral relations another significant boost with South Korean and Czech companies expected to sign agreements worth billions of crowns.

Expensive and embarrassing problems at one of the Czech Republic’s two nuclear power plants has shot up the political agenda with leaders of the coalition government parties now due to discuss the shutdown of most of the Dukovany reactor. And there is a possibility that heads at the top of the state-controlled power giant ČEZ could roll.

While women in the Czech Republic enjoy one of the longest paid parental leaves in Europe, the generous policy also presents some serious drawbacks. A new study carried out by Gender Studies organisation along with CERGE and Sociological Institute shows that a significant number of women find it impossible to return to the labour market after spending up to four years at home with their children.

Hamburg has decided to pull out of the competition to host the Olympic Games in 2024. The news casts doubt over the future of a rundown port lot in the German city owned by the Czech Republic since the late 1920s. Prague had been hoping to swap it for another site in the city.

As the Czech Republic tightens border security in connection with the migrant crisis police officers are returning to the old border check-points of the pre-Schengen era. However many of the buildings are now in private ownership and they find they have no base from which to operate.

Journalist Janek Rubeš has long reported on crooked cabbies in Prague who overcharge visiting tourists many times the regular amount. Taking an apparent cue from the internet programme Prague vs. Crooks, the police conducted an operation which has now seen seven people – six taxi drivers and a former civil servant at City Hall – arrested. The gathering of evidence took months and the cornerstone was testimony from tourists themselves.

Close to 150 world leaders have descended on Paris for a much anticipated UN climate change conference with the aim of producing a legally binding climate treaty that would keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 C. The EU’s contribution to the agreement will be a binding greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of at least 40% by 2030.

Czech prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka has signed a memorandum of understanding between the Czech and Chinese governments. The main theme of the memorandum is for the two countries to support China’s worldwide trade and investment initiative “One Belt, One Road.” But there are also hints that the Czech Republic could be given special treatment in key other areas.

Relations between the Czech president and prime minister have hit an all-time low over the migrant crisis. After weeks of restraint, Prime Minister Sobotka recently accused the president of populism and “legitimizing xenophobia”. President Zeman has now lashed back, accusing the head of government of putting the country at risk by his indecisiveness and humanistic stance.