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Right-wing party TOP 09 was one of the biggest casualties in the elections in October squeaking by with 5.3 percent of the vote, securing seven mandates and losing 19. Now the party has begun the process of turning things around, electing a new leadership at the weekend. MEP and former justice minister Jiří Pospíšil has taken over from Miroslav Kalousek.

Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, has welcomed a deal for the Czech government to acquire the site of a pig farm in Lety, southern Bohemia, which once housed a World War II internment camp for Roma.

The Czech Embassy in London will on Friday evening celebrate its reopening after a two-year renovation project. The large-scale event will see performances by singer Lenny and artists František Skála and Petr Nikl, a light show provided by Prague’s Signal festival and drinks from the world-renowned bar owner Pavel Tvaroh. Ahead of the celebration, I caught up with Ambassador Libor Sečka at his newly remodeled office.

A Czech court has found Jana Nečasová – the former mistress of ex-prime minister Petr Nečas – guilty of misusing her position to gain intelligence in order to spy on her lover’s then wife. Nečasová, who denies the charges, is now considering whether to appeal the ruling.

Three Plastic Rooms, a new English translation of the novel Umělohmotný třípokoj by Petra Hůlová, has just been published. Marking the book’s official launch, the author spoke at an event attended by local aficionados of Czech literature in London this week.

The annual Czech Press Photo competition, which evaluates both professional and amateur journalistic photographs from around the world, has selected the winners of the 2017 competition. And for the first time, the winner is a photograph taken not with an expensive camera, but with a simple cell phone.

An article published on the website of Russian state-wide television channel Zvezda on Tuesday has drawn very sharp responses from Czech politicians, including Miloš Zeman, the Czech head of state. He called the article, which argued that Czechs should be grateful for the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, an insult to the nation.

Czech police have submitted a fresh request to the chamber of deputies for ANO leader Andrej Babiš and party deputy leader Jaroslav Faltýnek to be stripped of their parliamentary immunity so they can pursue a fraud case. During the previous session of parliament, the pair came under investigation for alleged corruption over securing an EU grant for a development project.

Czech president Miloš Zeman is in Russia on a five-day official state visit, taking in Sochi, Moscow and Yekaterinburg. He is accompanied by a 130-strong delegation of representing Czech businesses hoping to sign energy and transportation-related contracts worth 20 billion crowns. The visit has fuelled further criticism that the president is charting a separate “pro-Russian” foreign policy at odds with the official position of the Czech government. Dr. Mark Galeotti is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of International Relations Prague. I began

The newly-elected lower house of Parliament is holding its first session on Monday, opening the way for the demise of the old government and the naming of a new prime minister. In view of strong opposition from the traditional parties to an emerging minority government headed by Andrej Babiš, the opposition parties are pushing for the lower house to be able to fully apply its role within the system of checks and balances.