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une 6th is a public holiday in the Czech Republic marking the 603rd anniversary of the burning at stake of reformer priest Jan Hus. Masses are celebrated around the country, among others in Jan Hus’ birthplace Husinec and at Bethlehem chapel in Prague, where the reformer priest preached.

June 5th is a public holiday in the Czech Republic honouring the legacy of Saints Cyril and Methodius who came to Great Moravia 1153 to spread the Christian faith and lay the foundations of literacy with the Glagolitic alphabet.

The Czech capital is in the grip of rock fever. The legendary Rolling Stones are back in Prague for a long-anticipated concert that is part of their European No Filter tour. The Stones have a special place in Czech hearts –they first performed in Prague in 1990 in what was a symbolic celebration of the country’s new-found freedom.

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival prides itself on helping films from the former Eastern Bloc reach international audiences. One way the festival achieves this is via its Film Industry Office, which supports projects from around the region in a number of ways. I discussed the office’s work with its head, Hugo Rosák.

The world's “most intense” laser system went online this week in the Czech village of Dolní Břežany outside of Prague. Known as the L3-HAPLS, the laser intensity of the system is more than six orders of magnitude higher than previous state-of-the-art models.

One of the most anticipated Czech documentaries at the 2018 Karlovy Vary international film festival had its world premiere on Monday night. King Skate combines period images and contemporary interviews to map the tiny skateboarding scene in 1980s Czechoslovakia. I asked the film’s director Šimon Šafránek how domestic skaters managed to acquire boards in the late communist era.

The biggest star at the opening of the 53rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival was Hollywood actor Tim Robbins. On receiving the event’s lifetime achievement award, Robbins, a well-known liberal, took aim at Donald Trump’s presidency – but he also praised the special role that film festival’s play in today’s culture.

David Lawson had never heard of Ostrava when, fifteen years ago, his London synagogue received a Sefer Torah that had belonged to a once vibrant community in that industrial city. Now, it’s fair to say, he is an expert on both the history of Ostrava and the key role Jews played in its development over centuries. I asked Mr. Lawson, co-author of the new book “Ostrava and its Jews: Now no-one sings you lullabies”, how it all came about.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has hailed the agreement on migration reached after nine hours of gruelling talks at an EU summit in Brussels as a huge success for the Visegrad Group’s common policy. The newly-appointed head of government, who has vehemently fought the idea of mandatory quotas, said the focus had shifted with the accent now on voluntary cooperation and the need to resolve the migrant crisis outside of Europe.