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There are plans to build a memorial dedicated to the parents of the so-called Winton children, who escaped death in Nazi gas chambers when they were sent abroad from Czechoslovakia shortly before the outbreak of WWII. A group of surviving “Winton children” want to pay tribute to their parents, who had the courage to let them go in order to save their lives. The memorial is to be situated at Prague’s Main Railway Station, close to a statue of Sir Nicholas Winton, who organised the transports of 669, mostly Jewish children.

A saga involving President Miloš Zeman and legendary Czech journalist Ferdinand Peroutka has taken another twist. The president’s office had faced a court order to apologise to Peroutka’s granddaughter over false accusations that he admired Hitler. However, Prague Castle has made a last-minute appeal, arguing an apology could spark a flood of lawsuits.

Czech President Miloš Zeman addressed the UN General Assembly on the subject of terrorism on Wednesday, calling for a military strike against the “nerve center” of international terrorism. Mr. Zeman said the time had come to put to use article 47 of the UN Charter which enabled the creation of a joint military force to combat a global threat.

Regional and senate elections are just around the corner in the Czech Republic and although campaigns are in full swing, local issues have not come to the fore. In many ways, the discourse has mirrored topics dominating national or international politics: the problem of migration and threats to security. Some, such as analyst Radko Hokovský of the think-tank European Values, argue that the upcoming elections, despite their local character, will be dominated by positions taken by candidates on migration and terrorism.

The Czech government on Wednesday approved its draft budget for 2017. The proposal envisages a deficit of 60 billion crowns and promises wage hikes for civil servants, doctors, nurses and teachers. While the opposition has criticized it for “excessively generous handouts”, the government’s comfortable majority in Parliament should secure the bill’s approval.

A group of young Czechs are currently raising funding to bring now elderly Germans expelled from the Czech lands after WWII to Prague in November for events including a concert and an exhibition. Unlikely as it may sound, they also want to highlight friendships between expelled Germans and the Czechs who today live in their former homes. I discussed the project with one of its initiators, Vlaďka Vojtíšková of Smíření (Reconciliation) 2016.

Addressing the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York Czech Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek said a greater effort was needed to address the root problem of migration in countries such as Syria and Iraq. He said the past months had clearly shown that Europe was unable to deal with a migrant wave of this size and it was hurting both Europeans and the refugees themselves.

It was reported first by RFE/RL that the founder of the political street art group Voina, Oleg Vorotnikov, and his wife and fellow activist Natalia Sokol, along with their daughter, had been detained in Prague. Mr Vorotnikov left Russia in 2011 after running awry of the Putin regime for artistic events seen there as acts of hooliganism. It is not known whether Russia will seek his extradition.

The Visegrad Four grouping has come under increasing criticism of late for allegedly undermining EU cohesion at a time when the European Union is fighting for its future. In a recent article the Financial Times labelled Visegrad (the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary) the alliance’s “awkward squad“, describing them as countries that have benefited from EU membership but are seeking to overturn its institutions. I asked political commentator Jiří Pehe about the “black sheep” label and whether it is not legitimate for these states to jointly

Failure to bridge the still massive economic gaps between “Western” and “Eastern” states are one of the factors in often increasing and bitter rifts between EU countries, according to the Czech foreign minister. And Minister Lubomír Zaorálek has called for new and targeted EU investment to try and close the gaps.