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From Monday no fewer than 500 new Czech-made electric bicycles will appear on the streets of Prague under the Freebike brand. Rental is via an app and users will be able to leave the bikes – which also work in traditional pedal mode – at “virtual stations” around the city. At the system’s launch on Thursday I spoke to Charles Butler of operators Homeport.

The Ministry of Defence has released its tender specifications for a new model of Infantry Fighting Vehicles which are set to replace its aging BVP-2s. Four pre-selected companies were invited to the negotiations on Wednesday and the ministry hopes to choose the supplier for its most expensive contract yet by the onset of September.

The Czech national soccer team welcomed five-time World Cup winners Brazil to Prague for a friendly game on Tuesday night. The Czechs were all-action in the first half and even took the lead. However, the Brazilians soon showed their superiority to run out 3:1 winners.

Prague City Hall announced on Monday that its representatives had met with Zdena Mašínová and agreed to exhume the remains of her mother, who was imprisoned by both the Nazis and communists and shares the same name. The city is now preparing the necessary documentation after which the exact date of exhumation will be set.

The most famous Czech cartoon character, Krteček, or the Little Mole, has been the centre of legal disputes for some time. Now a court has ruled that the granddaughter of Krteček’s creator, the late Zdeněk Miler, can no longer grant licenses to produce Little Mole collectibles. Judges say that a contract Miler signed with his granddaughter shortly before his death was invalid.

Winter Flies by Olmo Omerzu swept this year’s Czech Lion national film awards at the weekend. The road movie picked up no fewer than six prizes, including the coveted Best Film and Best Director. The other big success was The Hastrman by Ondřej Havelka.

On the eve of World Water Day, which falls on March 22, the Czech branch of the environmental organisation Greenpeace published an alarming report on the presence of micro-plastics in Czech rivers. According to the study, plastic fibres were found in all ten samples taken from the Vltava and Elbe Rivers. I asked Jan Freidinger of Greenpeace for more details:

Spring is officially in the air, and the season’s first returning white storks have already been spotted in some Czech villages, after having wintered in North Africa. In Slavic folk tradition, returning storks are not just a harbinger of spring but a good omen. And having a stork’s nest on your home or farm is thought to bring good luck. But a father-and-son team of Czech ornithologists say many myths about the birds are exactly that.

The classic Czech sci-fi film Ikarie XB1 looks set to find fresh audiences with a new Blu-ray release next week. A number of major figures in the history of Czech cinema were involved in the making of the black and white movie, which prefigured Western releases such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Trek.

General Milan Píka, whose father also held that rank and was executed following a Communist Party-orchestrated show trial, has died at the age of 96. Himself punished on false charges, the World War II veteran nonetheless managed to rise to the top of the Czechoslovak military – and eventually clear his father’s good name.