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Czechoslovak RAF veteran and one of the country’s last remaining war heroes, General Emil Boček, took to the skies in a Spitfire on Thursday more than seven decades after his last flight in the iconic plane. The 93-year-old veteran took off from the Biggin Hill airport in Kent, and spent twenty-five minutes up in the air, piloting the aircraft himself for a short while once it was airborne.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s hardline nationalist election rhetoric is reverberating far beyond US borders. His words, in a New York Times interview, regarding the possibility of conditional US support for NATO allies in times of need has evoked a strong negative response in Europe and sent ripples of unease around the post-communist bloc.

The small town of Studénka is just about to mark the first anniversary of its second rail tragedy in a decade. There are plans to do away with the level crossing where three people died when a high-speed train collided with a truck there last year. Meanwhile, two dozen rail crossings around the country are set to be the focus of a major renovation project.

Czech organist Pavel Svoboda is among the winners of this years’ International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition Leipzig, Germany, one of the most prestigious events of its kind. The 28-year-old musician succeeded in competition with 27 organists from around the world and is the first Czech to win the competition in 36 years. RF has more:

The first US citizen to be extradited to face criminal charges in the Czech Republic has been found guilty on four counts of murder after a high profile case. He now faces a life sentence in a high security prison for the brutal deaths of his Czech aunt and uncle and their two children.

The Czech government has failed to agree a common position on a controversial call to tax money being returned to churches in restitution. While the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats are opposed, ANO have angered coalition colleagues by backing the proposal.

Amid growing international concern over developments in Turkey in the wake of last week’s failed coup, Czech politicians have urged the Turkish authorities to respect the rule of law and not use the attempted coup to supress political opponents. The latest events have also led many to question the wisdom of starting EU accession talks with a country ready to reintroduce the death penalty.

A Prague district is looking to put itself on the map with a giant big wheel on the embankment of the Vltava river. But while local council leaders are enthusiastic about the project the plans have had a mixed reception from the public.

Following the failed military coup in Turkey flights from Prague to Istanbul were cancelled on Saturday. Normal service was soon resumed and the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs now says that the situation in Turkey is stable. However, officials have issued a fresh call on Czechs in the country to exercise vigilance.

Nuclear power means nuclear waste and the Czech Republic, like many other European countries, is faced with the headache of where to store the waste long term. A shortlist of seven locations for geological tests for suitable deep storage resulted in howls of protest from most of the citizens and mayors living near the sites. And that has forced a rethink from the ministry and state body piloting the selection process.