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One of the Czech Republic’s best-known experts on Russia, journalist and commentator Ondřej Soukup, has been denied a visa extension by the Moscow authorities. The ban is evidently a tit-for-tat move after Prague denied two Russian reporters fresh accreditation earlier this year on the recommendation of the Czech intelligence service. I discussed the situation with Soukup, who writes for Hospodářské noviny.

President Miloš Zeman, the country’s most outspoken opponent of migration, has come under fire from EU commissioner Guenther Oettinger, for saying that the Czech Republic should close its doors to all migrants since they would “create fertile ground for barbaric attacks.” The criticism from Brussels has stirred fresh debate on the controversial migrant quotas, underscoring a growing rift on the issue in the government.

Sixty Chinese Christians have applied for asylum in the Czech Republic, according to Hospodářské noviny. The newspaper says that if their applications were approved it would amount to accusing Beijing of violating human rights. The move comes against a backdrop of closening ties between Prague and Beijing.

The government agency CzechTourism has long promoted the Czech Republic as a Land of Stories for foreign visitors but more and more Czechs themselves are choosing to vacation here rather than going abroad. By current estimates, this summer will see a million more Czechs spending their holidays in their own country.

The Czech Finance Ministry posted a state budget surplus of 75.6 billion crowns at the end of July, up from 41 billion the previous month. The surplus is 50 billion crowns higher than that registered in the same period last year and is the best result since the founding of the Czech Republic in 1993. The Finance Ministry says this reflects sound fiscal management and the effectiveness of measures introduced to fight tax evasion. I asked economist David Marek, from Deloitte & Touche, for his take on what’s behind the record surplus.

Tests for future taxi drivers in part of the Czech Republic including the capital could soon get a little harder, requiring more than geographical knowledge or how to operate a taximeter. Under an amendment being prepared by the Transport Ministry, individual municipalities could opt for stricter rules, for example, requiring taxi drivers to complete psychological and foreign-language tests.

A significant reorganization of the police force was launched on Monday with the merger of the two elite crime fighting units into a National Centre against Organized Crime. The move, which will bring the police’s organized crime and anti-corruption units under joint administration, sparked a major row in the ruling coalition and raised concerns regarding possible intervention into open sensitive cases.

One of Prague’s most impressive architectural secrets, the massive baroque Invalidovna complex in the city’s Karlín district, is up for sale. Used as a backdrop to many films, the former home for war veterans constructed in the 18th century had found no takers from various state institutions and is now set to go under the hammer in spite of protests from well known architects and the local council.

Czech tradespeople are up in arms over the increasing rivalry that plumbers, painters and electricians are getting from non-professionals –jacks-of- all trades who make a living by helping out with whatever needs to be done around the house. The “hodinový manžel” - or husband for an hour, as they are called in Czech –has become a new phenomenon in the Czech economy and hundreds of men have turned it into a profitable business.

Measures to better protect so-called soft targets against terrorism are being rushed into place in the Czech Republic after the wave of recent attacks in Europe suggest targets have shifted from big headline events and locations to sites where many people gather or where attackers believe they can make a point.