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The leadership of the ANO party have announced that they will try to renew government negotiations with the Social Democrats. The decision is the latest turn in the nearly six-month saga to form a government following October elections which ANO won convincingly but fell short of an overall majority.

Poldi’s famous steelworks on the outskirts of Prague has been auctioned off to a foreign buyer. The move has sparked hopes amid continuing uncertainty what its future could be.

A team of Czech and US scientists have discovered a new method to fight cancer by blocking the access of a key nutrient, in this case an amino acid called glutamine, to cancer cells. This stops the cells from growing and they eventually die. Thanks to the promising results they have received funding of 40 million dollars for further clinical development.

The newly-appointed Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini held talks with Czech top officials in Prague on Wednesday on what was his first foreign trip since taking office. Twenty-five years after splitting up, the two neighbor states are cooperating closely to defend their national interests and boost their position in the EU.

A new directive was announced by the European Commission on Wednesday which spells the end of dual quality in numerous international brand foods and other products across different EU countries. The quality of ingredients in some brand name items was for years inferior in parts of the former communist bloc. Prague and other newer EU members have long pressed for legislation threatening companies continuing the practice with stiff fines.

The Czech president has pointed ANO leader Andrej Babiš in the direction of the anti-immigrant and anti-EU Direct Democracy and Freedom party (SPD) and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) as the best chance of forming a government. Though many ANO lawmakers don’t appear to have a problem with cosying up to Tomio Okamura’s SPD many current ministers have.

The anti-smoking bill, which was introduced in the Czech Republic in May last year, has already had a positive effect on people’s health, according to newly released data by the Prague-based Institute of Health Information and Data. Doctors and anti-smoking campaigners say it is a strong argument against proposals to soften the ban.

People in close to two dozen Czech towns and cities took to the streets on Monday to call for the resignation of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. The organizers of the protest say that while they respect the outcome of October’s general elections, they are not ready to accept a prime minister who faces criminal charges and is listed as a former agent of the communist-era secret police.

Czech Social Democrats have overwhelmingly backed the leaderships decision to pull out of coalition talks with ANO. And at a special party meeting they signalled an even tougher negotiating stance if negotiations about entry into an ANO-led government are to resume.

Talks between ANO and the Social Democrats on forming a minority coalition government with support from the Communists collapsed on Thursday. The break-down was reportedly caused by the fact that ANO refused to let the Social Democrats head the Interior Ministry – which they demanded as a „guarantee of independence“ given the fact that the cabinet would be headed by a prime minister charged with EU subsidy fraud.