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A twenty-year-long futile drive to buyout a pig farm standing on the site of the former Roma concentration camp in Lety, south Bohemia has received fresh impetus from an unlikely quarter. ANO leader Andrej Babiš who last week insulted the memory of the hundreds of Romanies who died there in inhumane conditions or were sent to their death in Auschwitz, has pledged to visit the site, bow to their memory and find the money needed to buyout the farm and build a dignified memorial.

The annual report of the Czech civil counter espionage and intelligence service contained two headline pieces of information this time round: the stepped up activity of Russian and Chinese secret services in the country and the fact that the country is described as being at potential risk from a terrorist attack from groups linked with Islamic state.

Russia-backed separatists from Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region attempted to establish an official representation in the Czech Republic on Thursday, opening a mock consulate in Ostrava which was described as the "the first official representation in the EU" of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. The move elicited a sharp response from the Czech Foreign Ministry which said it does not recognize the Donetsk People’s Republic and will ask a court to outlaw the grouping that established the centre.

The saga of the drawn-out court battle between Czech President Miloš Zeman and the granddaughter of one of the most respected Czech journalists Ferdinand Peroutka has taken a new twist. Terezie Kaslová, who claims the Czech head of state insulted her grandfather’s memory by saying he had written an article called Hitler is a Gentleman received a measure of satisfaction: she won an apology but, surprisingly failed to clear her grandfather’s name.

The Czech Republic has stood out so far as the sole European country which has not so far set a maximum retirement age. The government on Wednesday agreed to address that problem but many other questions still remain over when and in what circumstances Czechs will face retirement in the future.

September 1st was back to school day for thousands of children around the country and over 100,000 first graders who are traditionally given a special welcome. What makes this school year special is the start of an inclusion program which has seen regular schools open their doors to children with disabilities, giving schools the extra money needed to provide them with assistants and special teaching aids.

The sad news was announced on Wednesday that the most successful ever Czech Olympic athlete, Věra Čáslavská, died at the age of 74. She had been battling cancer of the pancreas. The gymnast will be remembered not just for her medals but for her protest against the Soviet bloc invasion of Czechoslovakia at the 1968 Mexico Olympics.

Nearly a thousand cultural and historical sites as well as technical monuments across the Czech Republic will open to the public for free during the European Heritage Days starting this weekend. Over the course of nine days, people will get the chance to see hundreds of sites many of which are not normally accessible to the public.

Czechs could be forgiven for being confused about how to get the best price for natural gas since the market was flooded with offers from dozens of traders and sellers since it opened up over the last decade. The national energy regulator has now stepped in with a helping hand after its probe uncovered huge price variations.

A fire at Prague’s Barrandov film studios has destroyed the set for a blockbuster television series around the Knights Templar in the 14th century which was set to pump over a billion crowns into the local economy. Shooting of Knightfall, a ten part series produced by Hollywood star Jeremy Renner, was due to start last weekend. I spoke to David Minkowski of Stillking film production, which co-produces the series, about the extent of the damage: