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The investment group PPF has agreed to buy the Czech unit of the Spanish telecommunications firm Telefónica. The Czech PPF group will pay 63.6 billion crowns for the controlling stake in the country’s largest mobile operator. The transaction, which is one of the biggest telecommunications deals in the past few years, is yet to be approved by the European Commission.

Waste from plastic bags has been a growing problem in recent decades. After years of isolated action in curbing plastic bag use on the part of some EU member states, the European Commission has moved to ensure more effective action. According to a proposed directive, that is to be put to a vote in the European and national parliaments, by 2015 EU member states will have to chose between three methods of reducing the waste from bags: charges, national reduction targets, or an outright ban.

Informal talks are underway on forming the country’s next government, with a coalition between the Social Democrats, ANO and the Christian Democrats seen as the most likely outcome. But these plans could run into a very serious obstacle. ANO leader Andrej Babiš is listed as a collaborator of the former communist secret police – legally preventing him from becoming a government minister.

The Social Democratic Party has tried to get back on track, a week after the party’s poorer-than-expected result in the election opened a major rift. On Thursday, a number of senior party members, who had led a call for leader Bohuslav Sobotka to resign, apologised for denying – or in one case lying – about a secret meeting with the country’s president, and one stepped down. The question is now what’s next for the troubled party.

An attempt to oust Social Democrat chair Bohuslav Sobotka following the party’s unconvincing win in last weekend’s general election has failed. The leader of the revolt, the party’s number two man Michal Hašek, has found himself under immense pressure to resign after admitting he had publicly lied about a secret meeting with the president, and on Thursday, Mr Hašek finally conceded defeat.

The Czech Foreign Ministry has released a new video showing two Czech women kidnapped in southwest Pakistan. The two, looking pale and exhausted, said they feared they will be killed by their captors and called on the Czech government to secure their release. The ministry has also released a video recorded by the women’s mothers.

On Tuesday, the Social Democrat deputy leader Michal Hašek was asked in a live broadcast whether a secret meeting had taken place between himself, several other Social Democrats and President Zeman (ahead of an attempt to oust party leader Bohuslav Sobotka). Mr Hašek replied that no such meeting took place. But now he has admitted the truth: that he lied.

The Czech Republic is often criticized for failing to address the problems of its Romany minority and give the Roma equal access to education, work and housing. While the authorities frequently point out that addressing these problems is a long an uphill task, the mayor of Obrnice, a small town in north Bohemia, has just proved that it can be done. She has been awarded the Council of Europe’s DOSTA! prize for innovative work in combating anti-Romany sentiments and assisting Romany integration.

Though they had a poorer showing than expected, the Social Democrats came first in the weekend’s elections, prompting speculation they could form a government with ANO and the Christian Democrats. However, in the last couple of days the Social Democrats have been torn apart by dramatic infighting – and for now it is not entirely clear who can represent them in coalition talks.

The Social Democrats showed remarkable disunity at the weekend when – ahead of the coalition talks – 20 within the party called on leader Bohuslav Sobotka to resign. Some expressed shock, others support for the embattled chairman, but this much is clear: the party’s largely Pyrrhic victory deepened an already existing split in the party.