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For years the Civic Democrats were the dominant right-wing force in Czech politics. However, the party took less than 8 percent in recent elections and are very much on the ropes. With members crying out for a saviour, the relatively untested Petr Fiala appears set to announce a bid to run for chairman, and could well get elected.

The Czech police force has had to face an unprecedented situation this week – the existence of two police presidents. With the former head of the force Petr Lessy reinstated after being cleared of criminal charges, the question there is now a question over what should be done with the man appointed to succeed him, Martin Červíček. We look at how the Interior Minister Martin Pecina is dealing with the situation.

Ten historic synagogues in Bohemia and Moravia are undergoing massive renovations and are set to reopen in all their former glory next year. The Ten Stars project includes such gems of Jewish heritage as Baroque synagogues in Mikulov and Jičín and neo-Romanesque ones in Plzeň and Krnov, as well as several other minor Jewish monuments.

Negotiations on the new government between the Social Democrats, ANO 2011 and the Christian Democrats are continuing with the number of cabinet seats being floated at 17 or 18. But regarding who will serve in the cabinet, the parties are keeping quiet. There is growing speculation Lubomír Zaorálek or Jiří Dienstbier could be forward by the Social Democrats, but also concern that the president would refuse to appoint them.

Archaeologists in Israel believe they have indentified a unique mediaeval Bohemian coin found in 2009 in the former crusaders’ city of Acre. The experts say the coin was minted during the reign of King Przemysl Ottokar II in the second half of the 13th century; if that is the case, the coin would bear the earliest known depiction of the king, as well as historically the first usage of the title “King of Bohemia”. I discussed the discovery with Robert Kool from Israel Antiquities Authority.

Czechs have a worse view of corruption in their country than they did last year, according to the annual Corruption Perception Index that the organization Transparency International released this week. Worldwide, the Czech Republic went down three notches to 57th spot, putting it on par with countries like Bahrain, Croatia or Namibia. Among 31 western European countries, the Czechs took 25th place this year. But is this actually bad news, and is the fairly negative perception of corruption in this country based on reality?

Tomáš Ujfaluši, a member of Czech football’s ‘golden generation’ which featured the likes of players like Milan Baroš, Jan Koller and Pavel Nedvěd, has decided to hang up his boots. The 35-year-old defender, who played for clubs like Fiorentina and Atletico Madrid and had 78 caps for the national squad, called it quits due to a lingering knee-injury which prevented him from fulfilling a one-year contract with Sparta Prague.

For many Czechs, Russia’s Natalya Gorbanevskaya was nothing less than a hero, one of eight people in 1968 who protested on Red Square in Moscow against the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia. All of the protesters were arrested and as punishment she was sent to a psychiatric hospital. A few years after her release in 1972, she emigrated to France where she continued to work as a poet translator and human rights activist up until her death at the age of 77 last week.

The Czech Defence Ministry says it is close to a deal to sell most of its surplus combat planes. The potential buyer, the US firm Draken International, is reportedly interested in acquiring 28 L-159 planes that would be used as practice targets for US pilots. If agreement is reached, the Defence Ministry will receive around 500 million crowns for the planes.

The government’s agency for social inclusion on Wednesday presented the Rusnok cabinet with a grim report on the situation of the Romany minority, in which it claims that the problems in housing have deteriorated in an alarming way and little progress has been made in other areas. Coincidentally, on the same day, the Senate rejected a proposal by the EC on how to address these issues successfully. I asked the head of the government’s agency for social inclusion Martin Šimácek to outline the main areas of concern.