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The Ministry of Culture is devising a new conceptual plan for Prague’s premier, state-run theatres. A group of experts has been put together to consider various alternatives for the better use of buildings like the Estates Theatre, the National Theatre and the Prague State Opera. Though only in the initial stages, critics were very quick to latch on to suggestions made in the first of several plans under consideration, raising a question mark over how easy it will be to reform the beloved and traditional, but economically ineffective venues.

Top military chaplains from 37 armies of NATO countries, and those affiliated with the alliance’s Partnership for Peace programme are in Prague for their annual conference. Over 80 Christian priests and ministers, together with two rabbis and an imam, will be talking about how to improve their role as ethical guides for the troops.

Hopes of a compromise solution to the looming crisis in the Czech health sector dimmed on Monday when a meeting between the health minister and trade union leaders ended in deadlock. The health minister accused doctors of paving the road to hell in defense of their narrow, selfish interests, while doctors countered that the ministry was not playing above board.

At the weekend the Czech Foreign Ministry advised Czechs to postpone all non-essential travel to Egypt until the situation stabilizes. Despite the warning, Czech travel agencies continued to send more tourists to Egypt’s Red Sea resorts, on the argument that those destinations were still safe. On Monday they reversed their decision. Tomio Okamura is the head of the Association of Czech Travel Agencies:

Reports of looting and violence in Egypt have evoked concern for the hundreds of Czechs currently in the country. According to available information there are now over 1,000 Czech holiday makers in the country’s popular Red Sea resorts and dozens more travelling on their own who are difficult to trace. Earlier today Radio Prague contacted the Czech ambassador to Egypt, Jiří Slavík, for an update on the security situation.

Several events were held in the Czech Republic on Thursday to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking the 66th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Several Jewish veterans and resistance workers from the Second World War met at Prague’s Czech Centre on Thursday afternoon to pay tribute to the victims of the Shoa, and to remember their fellow fighters.

Food banks are part of a humanitarian aid network across Europe and Czech civic associations are gradually developing this form of aid for the poor here in the Czech Republic as well. After Prague and Ostrava which are only able to cover their own needs, the town of Litoměrice has launched a food bank for the whole north Bohemian region.

An archaeological expedition organised by the National Museum has made remarkable finds in the area of Wad ban Naqa – ruins dating back to the Kingdom of Meroe in today’s Sudan. The Náprstek Museum is currently holding talks on the expedition’s progress after the first two seasons, including research at a temple dedicated to Nubian lion gods. They have also been studying a circular structure whose origins have remained a mystery since it was first excavated in the 1950s.

Germany’s Federal Statistical Office recently released an analysis which says that the Czech population is the least threatened by poverty of all the EU member states. According to data from 2008, some 8.6 percent of Czechs, or over 900,000 people, face poverty risk. But critics say these numbers have little relevance, and poverty is looming over many more Czechs. Jan Richter has the details.

As the government struggles to find a solution to a looming crisis in the health sector, hospitals around the country are bracing for the worst. Over 3,800 doctors have handed in their notice in protest against low wages and as of March, when the resignations take effect, many state hospitals and clinics may find themselves in big trouble – to the point of being unable to provide acute care. One of the worst affected areas is said to be the field of pre-and-post-natal care and expectant mothers are scrambling to register at hospitals where they