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The rather moribund debate over when to join the single European currency has been revived in recent days, with the Czech president Miloš Zeman telling a German newspaper his country could adopt the euro within five years. The eurosceptic government is rather more cautious; prime minister Petr Nečas reiterated after a meeting with the head of the European Council on Thursday that his government had no plans to set a date for adoption.

An exhibition spanning two south Bohemian and two Austrian towns is just about to get underway, with various religious and industrial venues hosting works that point to the shared roots on both sides of the border. As part of the extensive project, a number of historical buildings have been painstakingly renovated and will be open to the public for the first time.

They were supposed to have buried the hatchet a week ago but a clash between Czech President Miloš Zeman and the country’s foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, was revived on Tuesday. Most remarkably, during the president’s visit to Austria. All it took was a few words to again shake things up. The president suggested if he couldn’t reach agreement with the foreign minister on ambassadorial posts, he would sidestep him entirely.

The Roman Catholic Church has begun the process of beatifying a priest who was at the centre of one of the most bizarre and gruesome episodes of the initial phase of communism in Czechoslovakia. After a cross was said to have moved in his village church, Josef Toufar was brutally tortured into confessing to fabricating the “miracle”. However, if he is beatified, it will be a lengthy process.

The Czech police’s anti-corruption unit has been relatively visible in recent times, with operations culminating in charges against two former ministers. But now the unit’s head has announced he is to quit after a spat with the high state attorney, who had levelled some damning charges against his department.

The Prague authorities are suing owners who have failed to remove food stands on the city’s Wenceslas Square. Eight out of 18 ordered off the square after the city cancelled contracts remain. The eighth, remarkably, continues to sell pizza despite the closure order and the imposition of fines.

A fresh corruption scandal has erupted on the Czech political scene. The police have charged a high placed former health ministry official with breach of trust and abuse of office in connection with a dubious tender for the operation of the air rescue services. The transfer of the operation from the defense ministry to two private companies is reported to have caused the state losses of close to 800 million crowns to date.

The Czech Republic will provide aid to the Texan town of West, which has been devastated by a massive explosion at a local fertiliser plant. The country’s ambassador to the US has arrived in the town, which has a very strong Czech heritage, and says the Czech government will help rebuild the community. More assistance for West should also come from the north Moravian towns whose inhabitants settled in the town more than a century ago.

The fire and massive explosion at a fertiliser plant in the small Texas town of West has flattened dozens of homes and left untold numbers of people dead – casualty figures haven’t been released as many are still trapped in the wreckage of their homes. The disaster is being followed closely here in the Czech Republic – the town was settled by Czech immigrants in the 19th century, and some three quarters of the population are of Czech origin.

The Czech mobile telephony market is undergoing a dramatic change after one of the country’s three major operators slashed its tariffs by about half, a move immediately followed by its competitors. Following years of complaints about high mobile bills, Czechs can now get unlimited calls and text messages at prices similar to other countries in the region.