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Tens of thousands of people are expected to queue for hours to view the Czech crown jewels, which have just gone on display at Prague Castle’s Vladislav Hall. The priceless collection, which includes the St. Wenceslas crown, is being shown for the first time in five years – but only for a 10-day period.

The Czech Republic has been heavily criticised in recent years for allowing corruption to flourish – particularly for refusing to abolish anonymous stock certificates known as bearer shares. Anti-corruption campaigners say these unregistered paper shares are of great value to corrupt businessmen, dirty politicians and crooked officials, especially in doling out lucrative public tenders. Now however, their days are numbered.

An elementary school in Prague now bears the name of the Czech-born former mayor of Chicago, Antonín Čermák. The renaming ceremony in his honour took place on Thursday, the 140th anniversary of his birth, and was attended, among other guests, by Čermák’s grandson.

The large-scale regional exhibition taking place in two South Bohemian and two Upper Austrian cities hit the first snag within days of the grand opening. Part of the exhibit in the small town of Vyšší Brod, which is dedicated to the houses of worship in the region, sparked intense criticism for displaying works dating back to darker days in history.

If anybody was counting on Switzerland being an easy match-up at the Ice Hockey World Championships underway in Sweden they have since learned their lesson. The Swiss are the surprise of the tournament so far: first they upended hosts Sweden, then edged Canada, and on Monday added another scalp, defeating the Czechs.

In a meeting in Prague on Monday, the Czech and Polish agriculture ministers addressed a long-running dispute over the quality of Polish food imports to the Czech Republic. In what may prove to be the first step to defusing the row, the Czech agriculture minister, Petr Bendl, and his Polish counterpart, Stanisław Kalemba, have agreed to boost cooperation and to improve the exchange of information between their food inspection agencies.

Bikers all over the Czech Republic can now join a campaign called Bike to Work, which was started last year by a Prague-based advocacy group Auto*mat to encourage urban cycling. Teams made up of two to five people can join in the race and record the number of kilometers they bike on the way to and from work for the whole month of May. Those with the highest number of kilometers receive prizes, and all the participants get to join a growing community of urban bikers.

A broad amnesty declared in January by outgoing president Václav Klaus continues to cause controversy. It remains unclear who authored the final draft of the amnesty which, among other things, threw out cases involving alleged large-scale corruption. Now a one-time aide to Mr. Klaus is saying the Justice Ministry is responsible. However, it strongly denies the allegation.

Prague’s iconic Café Slavia reopened this morning, as life in the area around the National Theatre slowly gets back to normal following Monday’s devastating gas explosion in Divadelní street. Police are still investigating the causes of the explosion, which left several dozen injured and caused extensive damage to surrounding buildings.

A new survey released by the STEM polling agency suggests that Czechs, in troubled economic times, largely blame foreigners for the loss of jobs. According to the poll, two-thirds stated there were ‘too many foreigners in the country’ (there are an estimated 438,000) while 45 percent said they were against foreigners being hired. Are jobs actually at threat or is the sentiment xenophobia plain and simple?