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The price of cigarettes in the Czech Republic is due to rise by up to four crowns for a pack of 20. Wednesday’s approval of the price hike in the lower house followed a fall in the value of the crown that left the Czech Republic in contravention of a new EU guideline on excise duty.

The Czech Republic’s Export Bank and Slovakia’s Eximbank on Tuesday signed an agreement on cooperation in supporting joint Czech and Slovak business ventures abroad. The agreement aims to tap the potential of the now defunct label Made in Czechoslovakia without actually reviving it and to increase the competitiveness of Czech and Slovak firms simply through their joint presence on foreign markets. I spoke to the CEO of the Czech Export Bank Karel Bureš shortly after the signing ceremony in Bratislava.

A Czech-American team of scientists recently published findings in the prestigious journal Nature Geoscience, after discovering how unique landforms such as the Czech Republic’s Pravčice Arch are created and how they withstand collapse.

July 28th marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War which later came to be known as World War I. On this date in 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia – exactly a month the Austrian heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, and his Czech wife Sofie Chotek were assassinated in Sarajevo. The conflict would eventually draw in Russia, Germany, France, Great Britain and other nations.

Some restaurants in Prague’s central district discriminate against foreigners, according to the Czech Trade Inspection Authority. The agency says that in several restaurants in the area, English-speaking inspectors posing as tourists were automatically levied with a service charge – unlike their Czech-speaking colleagues who dined in the same place at the same time.

The senior coalition Social Democrats have suffered an embarrassing setback in the lower house after a group of their MPs on Wednesday joined the opposition to pass a bill lowering fuel tax. The move, which casts doubt on the Social Democrats’ unity, has raised the ire of coalition leaders over its massive impact on the state budget. However, coalition MPs have bent the rules of parliamentary procedure to schedule a new vote on the bill.

The United States Senate on Wednesday approved the nomination of Andrew Schapiro as ambassador to Prague. Like the outgoing American ambassador, Norman Eisen, Mr. Schapiro is a lawyer who has worked alongside the US president, Barack Obama. But how is the next US ambassador like to differ from his predecessor? That’s a question I put to journalist Daniel Anýž, who is an expert on Czech-US relations.

The Czech Health Ministry on Wednesday presented a national strategy to improve public health, which has in some respects deteriorated over the past decades. The document entitled Health 2020 addresses 16 areas, from lack of physical exercise to better institutional health care.

The environment minister has just unveiled what he describes as a revolutionary amendment aimed at making the Czech Republic’s national parks more accessible to the public. However, some critics say the planned change could lead to damage to valuable wildlife, while others say the bill contradicts existing legislation on the country’s biggest national park, Šumava.

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka on Monday continued his tour of government ministries, this time focusing on Černín Palace and results over the last half year by the country’s foreign minister, Lubomír Zaorálek. Mr Sobotka and the foreign minister discussed economic diplomacy as well as developments in Israel and in eastern Ukraine.