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On a state visit to Israel, Czech President Miloš Zeman on Monday addressed a special session of the country’s parliament, the Knesset – the first Czech politician ever to do so. Mr. Zeman highlighted the special relationship between the two countries and vowed to do everything in his power to ensure that the Czech Embassy be moved to Jerusalem.

Czech MPs have called for tough measures against Russia after it opened fire on Ukrainian ships on Sunday. Members of the lower house’s Foreign Affairs Committee advocate tougher sanctions – while there has also been talk of forcing a reduction in the relatively high staff numbers at Prague’s Russian Embassy.

The government of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) has, as expected, survived a no-confidence vote in parliament. Ninety-two MPs voted for the measure, 90 voted against it, and 18 abstained. To pass, 101 votes were required.

Historian Timothy Snyder is a leading expert on Central and Eastern Europe and has written forcefully about the threat posed by Putin’s Russia and how ordinary people can stand up to tyranny. This week Professor Snyder has been giving lectures in Prague that packed auditoriums. During his visit, Czech Radio’s Lenka Kabrhelová discussed aspects of this country’s history – and present – with Professor Snyder.

Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Ratas has been in Prague on Friday for talks with his Czech counterpart Andrej Babiš focused on digitisation, an area in which the Czech government is eager to step up its game. Consultants McKinsey have just published a study saying that accelerated digitisation could deliver up to a massive EUR 26 billion in additional Czech GDP by 2025. I asked Tomáš Karakolev, one of the authors of the study, what the Czech Republic should focus on if it wants to digitalise successfully.

In December 1988 Francois Mitterrand had breakfast with leading dissidents in Prague, providing a major shot in the arm to the Czechoslovak opposition. The Czech Foreign Ministry is now reported to be planning similar events on the 30th anniversary of Mitterrand’s gesture to demonstrate the country’s support for human rights.

After more than a week of political uncertainty regarding the fate of the Czech government, the junior partner in the ruling coalition, the Social Democrats, announced they would allow the government to survive a motion of no-confidence on Friday by abstaining from the vote. The decision was attacked by the opposition parties as “cowardly” and “self-serving”.

Elena Gorolová, a Roma social worker from the north Moravian city of Ostrava, has been included on an annual BBC list of 100 inspirational and influential women for 2018. The BBC highlighted Ms Gorolová’s campaign against forced sterilisation as well as her work to return institutionalised children to their birth families.

Jaromír Jágr is to be the public face of the ice hockey tournament at Beijing’s Winter Olympic Games in 2022. Jágr thus joins Canadian legend Wayne Gretzky among the personalities that are helping prepare and develop Chinese ice hockey. But it is not only on the level of personalities that cooperation is growing.

David Kraus’s administration building in Strančice won this year’s annual Czech architecture award. The building was praised by an international jury for its regional uniqueness and received the prize on Monday at a ceremony, in Prague’s Forum Karlín. The design, along with the winners of partner prizes, will be shown at special exhibitions in Prague and Brno.