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The Czech Big Brother awards, recognizing the biggest privacy intruders of 2018, have gone to Facebook, the Czech Financial Administration and the company iRobot, producing intelligent vacuum cleaners. In the Czech Republic the awards have been presented since 2005 by the Iuridicum remedium civic association.

The great traveller Miroslav Zikmund turned 100 on Thursday. For Czechoslovaks unable to travel much under communism, the books and radio reports produced by Zikmund and his friend Jiří Hanzelka served as a window to exotic parts of the world. However, the pair were barred from public life following the Soviet invasion.

The Czech Republic has a new media freedom watchdog. A number of leading journalists this week established a Czech branch of the International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists set up to protect press freedom and support independent journalism wherever it is under threat.

Pope Francis this month publicly acknowledged the scandal of priests and bishops sexually abusing nuns and has vowed to do more to fight the problem. The issue came to the fore amid the Catholic Church’s overall reckoning with the sexual abuse of minors. Here in the Czech Republic, Cardinal Dominik Duka – who in the past has characterized such scandals as attacks on the church – has now agreed under pressure to meet some of the victims face to face.

Psychiatric care in the Czech Republic has been profiting from a trend towards external care, which keeps psychiatric institutions from overflowing and lets patients function in society. To support this development, the Health Ministry set up special mobile psychiatric teams in 2018 and plans to create up to 100 in the future. But securing financing from health insurance companies may prove crucial.

Before there was the Charles Bridge, Prague was served by the Judith Bridge, which was destroyed by flooding in 1342. New research carried out by divers has been mapping the remnants of the bridge beneath the Vltava with a view to ensuring their continued preservation.

There is a serious shortage of young doctors entering the Czech health system, with many physicians choosing to work in Western countries instead. In response, the Ministry of Health is considering measures that would oblige doctors to remain in the country for a certain period after their studies. However, many in the target group say the problem lies elsewhere.

Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Tomáš Petříček is due to visit Washington this month to discuss a bilateral and global issues with the U.S. secretaries of state and defence, and President Trump’s national security advisor. Cybersecurity issues – not least concerning Chinese telecoms giant Huawei – are high on the Czech agenda. So too is securing an invitation to the White House.

The Czech Republic has been hit by droughts in recent years, with large swathes of the country particularly badly affected last summer. Now a government task force is working on plans to combat the problem – and there are even suggestions water could be protected under the Czech Constitution.

A decade ago, the Czech Republic had more gaming machines per capita than any other country in the European Union. But “one-armed bandits” have steadily disappeared from the nation’s dive bars following the introduction of new legislation and statues, and many municipalities have outright banned casinos.