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Rooting out corruption has been a priority for Czech governments right and left of center ever since the fall of communism. Yet according to the results of a survey conducted by the CVVM agency a full 20 percent of Czechs say giving bribes is a normal part of life.

In September, the Bělá-Jezová detention centre for illegal migrants was compared to a prison by the country’s Ombudswoman. On Thursday, the interior minister toured the facility with a group of ambassadors, as well as the country’s minister for social affairs, to show that conditions had improved.

After three years of extensive renovation, the burial site of the House of Liechtenstein in the south Moravian town of Vranov was re-opened and re-consecrated. The unique mausoleum to the influential noble family was seized by the Czechoslovak state after WWII and has been crumbling apart ever since.

U.S. intelligence reports that the crash of a Russian passenger plane in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula was most likely caused by a bomb have shocked the international community and raised fresh concerns regarding security and tourism to the region. With Egypt high on the list of Czech popular tourist destinations many holiday-makers awaited the Czech Foreign Ministry’s recommendations.

Car maker Volkswagen’s woes are piling up from the false emissions scandal. And they are now affecting key subsidiaries such as the Czech Republic’s biggest motor manufacturer Škoda Auto.

The government is to launch a new fast-track programme to make it easier for high school and university graduates from Ukraine to seek employment in the Czech Republic. There is hope new applicants will fill gaps in the labour market.

The Czech Republic is introducing sexual assistants trained to provide paid services to disabled people. The assistants, whose services were approved by the Interior Ministry, were selected and trained by the Czech charity ‘Rozkoš bez rizika’ (‘Bliss without Risk’), which provides counselling for sex-workers.

The government on Monday agreed to send an additional 105 million crowns in aid largely to the Middle East and Africa this year and an additional 70 million in the next to help countries in the region hit by the refugee crisis. The bulk of the funds will go to two EU funds for Syria and Africa but some will also be set aside for the World Food Programme and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

The Czech Republic’s biggest national park Šumava has recently opened a wolf observation site at its new visitor centre in the town of Srní. The park’s management wants to get the public more used to the former inhabitants of the local forests, hoping that the public exposure to the wolves will help erode some of the ingrained prejudices against them.

The 2015 world expo closed its doors to the public on Saturday and as Milan celebrates the success of the undertaking, the Czech team has good reason to be proud. The Czech pavilion was awarded the bronze medal for architectural merit, as well as being voted the most visitor-friendly.