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The Czech Foreign Ministry has confirmed it will do everything in its power to help Petr Jašek, a Christian missionary who was arrested in Sudan in late 2015 and on Sunday was sentenced to 20 years in prison on spying and other charges. The ministry sees the case against the Czech as unfounded and said that it will work towards trying to secure his release.

A two day series of seminars about media coverage of the refugee crisis in Central Europe and the Baltic States has just wound up in Prague. And most of the messages have not been complimentary about its performance which has often been described as shallow, seizing on disinformation, failing to present a wider picture, and too frequently falling in with local politicians’ take on problems.

On the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Czechs are marking the memory of Antonín Kalina, a Czechoslovak Communist who risked his own life to save at least 900, mostly Jewish children from the Holocaust. A documentary about the unsung hero of the Holocaust was premiered on Czech Television this week while his hometown of Třebíč announced plans to open a memorial hall dedicated to their famous son.

The European Figure Skating Championships have just got underway in the north Moravian city of Ostrava. Almost 170 skaters from 33 countries are taking part in the colourful extravaganza, which is being held in the Czech Republic for the first time in 18 years.

The Czech Republic is considering joining an international court case against a planned highway toll on Germany’s historically free autobahns that critics say would discriminate foreign drivers. Transport officials from 11 EU member states, including the Czech Republic, met in Brussels on Wednesday to consider the legal possibilities.

“Are you cold? Take a coat!” That is literally the message on a wardrobe on the main square in Prague 6 where people in need can pick up clothes at the very spot where others have dropped them off. The person behind #Darujkabat (#Donateacoat) is local woman Blanka Fröhlichová. I asked her where she had found the inspiration for the novel project.

The Czech Republic has slipped 10 places on a list of 176 countries in watchdog Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). Government pledges to curb corruption were largely ineffective last year with warnings that interest groups are “capturing” the state.

Czech diplomats have managed to negotiate the release of a Polish national jailed in Syria since 2015. According to a statement from the Office of the President the man was released on humanitarian grounds and is reported to be in “satisfactory” physical condition.

The Czech Republic has been experiencing the worst case of smog pollution in recent years. The maximum for airborne dust particles has been exceeded in most parts of the country for nearly a week. People with respiratory diseases and heart conditions as well as elderly people and children were advised to limit outdoor activities and regulations curbing the activities of the biggest polluters has been in declared in several regions, including Prague.

A Czech minister has, to some extent, broken ranks over how the European Union should negotiate with Britain over Brexit. Interior minister Milan Chovanec has suggested that when it comes to the rights of Czechs living in Britain, Prague should go it alone and launch its own talks with London regardless of what the other 26 EU countries are doing.