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Long-term disputes about the future of the Šumava National Park may have finally come to an end. The government on Thursday approved an amendment to the law on nature and landscape protection that should make the Czech Republic’s four main national parks more accessible to tourists. I spoke to the deputy head of Šumava National Park, Martin Starý, and first asked him about the main changes proposed in the new legislation:

The Czech Republic has strongly rejected freshly announced European Union plans for a quota system for accepting refugees. The EU wants the country to take in over 500 refugees permanently and to process the asylum requests of thousands more. But the Prague government insists any such scheme should be voluntary.

On Thursday, the Czech Republic faces Finland in their first knockout stage match at the Ice Hockey World Championships. As the hosts of this year’s tournament, the Czechs – led by Jakub Voráček and legendary forward Jaromír Jágr – will do their utmost to make it to the semis, to keep alive chances of winning a medal at home. But beating the Finns, backstopped by a phenomenal Pekka Rinne, won’t be easy.

Air Force exercise Lion Effort has gotten underway in the Czech Republic. Over the next fortnight, some 500 personnel including pilots, ground crews and air defence from four different countries, will cooperate on numerous training missions.

The 70th edition of the Prague Spring International Music Festival has just got underway. As every year, Tuesday’s opening concert at the Municipal Hall featured one of the greatest of Czech compositions, My Country by Bedřich Smetana. But this year, for the first time ever, a German orchestra performed at the curtain raiser for the biggest event in Czech classical music.

Czech firms should soon find it easier to get a foothold on the Vietnamese market: on Monday, on an official visit with his wife to the Czech Republic, President Truong Tan Sang confirmed that Vietnam will lift existing administrative barriers. Those hampered trade for Czech firms until now.

This weekend, people in Prague will have a unique chance to visit some thirty buildings across the city, from historical sights to state-of-the art office buildings, which are otherwise inaccessible to the public. The event, called Open House, was originally founded in 1992 in London and over the years, more than thirty cities across the world have joined in. I talked with Open House’s Bohdana Rambousková and I first asked her about the history of the festival:

Czech president Miloš Zeman’s Moscow trip on Saturday was closely observed at home and abroad. And while the head of state did not witness the massive military parade in Red Square, he courted fresh controversy with comments that sanctions against Russia could be relaxed by the end of the year.

It has emerged that Czech police last week thwarted a planned attack on a train carrying military equipment from Prague to west Bohemia. The plot to blow up the train, one of a number of attacks hatched by left-wing radicals, allegedly came dangerously close to completion. Three men now face life sentences on charges of terrorism. I asked security expert Andor Šandor about the state of left-wing extremism in the country and how serious a threat it presents.

The British vote in general elections today which most polls predict will be too close to call. Almost certainly, no single party, neither Labour nor the Conservatives, will end up having a majority on their own in the lower house of parliament. Immigration and Britain’s future membership of the European Union have been prominent issues for voters and for the many Czechs now living and working in the country.