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The Czech Defence Ministry has revealed the details of its foreign missions plan for 2017 -2018. The plan envisages continued participation in all current foreign operations and greater involvement in the fight against Daesh.

Czechia in English, and other variants of the Česko in other languages, has taken a big step forward towards becoming the shorthand name for the Czech Republic at official meetings and international sporting events in the future.

After the success of the first-ever English production of Jára Cimrman plays, The Stand-In, the English speaking audience now has a chance to get acquainted with another of the fictional character’s plays. Dobytí severního pólu or The Conquest of the North Pole is now being staged in Prague’s Jára Cimrman Theatre by the Cimrman English studio, a group of Prague-based, English-speaking actors.

The Czech Foreign Ministry has denied accreditation to two Russian journalists in Prague, eliciting an angry response from Moscow, which accused the Czech authorities of violating the right to freedom of expression. The Russian Foreign Ministry has summoned the Czech ambassador for an explanation.

More than two million crowns is the tally in damage so far caused by a police officer who crashed into 51 cars in Prague’s Vinohrady district this week. Karel Kadlec, a 46-year-old officer and former instructor at the police academy, is suspected of having deliberately rammed the vehicles after he had been drinking; tests revealed more than one per mille of alcohol in his blood.

The Czech Republic’s top officials are meeting to try and agree on a shortened name for the Czech Republic. The frontrunner in English appears to be the name Czechia and that could soon be popping up all over the place.

Czech Radio’s youth and alternative station Radio Wave has just begun broadcasting from a glass-fronted studio right on Vinohradská St. that allows it extremely close contact with the public. What’s more, the futuristic-looking studio will be launched with a free street party on the adjacent Balbínova St. this coming Saturday. As preparations for it were being finalised, I asked Wave’s director of programming, Robert Candra, how the public had been reacting to such proximity to the station’s studio.

The Czech government on Monday failed to take a position on a proposal to tax the state’s financial compensation to the Church for property seized by the former Communist regime. Under a property settlement reached four years ago, the state is paying out 59 billion crowns adjusted for inflation over 30 years.

Police President Tomáš Tuhý has apologized to the dean of the Czech Film Academy (FAMU )for the behaviour of two police officers on the academy’s premises during the recent visit to Prague by the Chinese president. In an incident reminiscent of communist-era practices, the officers entered the premises and demanded to know who was responsible for hoisting the Tibetan flag on the building.

Austrian President Heinz Fischer is in the Czech Republic on a two-day visit. His talks with Czech top officials are expected to cover security issues, bilateral cooperation and the migrant crisis. I asked foreign relations expert Michal Kořan from the Institute for International Relations to assess the present state of Czech-Austrian relations and to what extent they are burdened by issues such as the Beneš decrees or nuclear power.