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An increasing number of Czech couples who cannot have a child of their own are seeking the help of surrogate mothers. However, there is currently no legislation in the Czech Republic recognising surrogacy. Experts are warning that the arrangements surrounding this controversial method of assisted reproduction are void and unenforceable.

In keeping with tradition, the annual Prague Spring classical music festival kicked off on Sunday with a rendition of Bedřich Smetana’s epic cycle Má vlast, or My Country, which portrays the history, legends and landscape of the composer’s homeland. What makes this performance particularly poignant is that it was performed by a German orchestra formed by musicians expelled from Czechoslovakia after WWII.

The Czech Republic boasts one of the densest and best maintained systems of hiking routes in Europe. The very first tourist path opened 130 years ago this Saturday, on May 11, 1889. It led from the village of Štěchovice on the banks of the Vltava River to Svatojanské proudy and was marked by members of the Czech Tourist Club.

Wondering what a 10 billion Euro investment can do for a village? Dolní Břežany was lucky enough to find out. It now houses an EU research facility containing some of the world’s most powerful lasers. Scientists expect the centre may help in research ranging from star exploration to combating cancer. They are now working on the centre’s most powerful laser yet.

EU leaders are meeting in Sibiu, Romania on Thursday for a summit that was originally intended to affirm post-Brexit unity and chart a course for future development. Although member states are expected to adopt a declaration of “unity and confidence in the future”, the summit is overshadowed by uncertainty regarding the outcome of European elections, due later this month, and the many question marks surrounding Brexit.

The Cannes film festival, which begins next week, is set to pay tribute to the late Miloš Forman, screening a restored version of the late director’s 1965 classic Loves of a Blonde as well as presenting the world premiere of the new documentary Forman vs. Forman. I spoke to the head of the Czech Film Center, Marketa Šantrochová, about the country’s involvement in the 2019 Cannes – starting with the presentation of Loves of a Blonde.

An event at the Strahov Monastery took place on Tuesday to celebrate the statue of the Virgin Mary in Exile, which was placed in its garden exactly 25 years ago. The statue, which previously stood in the Czech Benedictine College in Lisle, near Chicago, was commissioned by Czechoslovak expats in the US in the 1950s and became a symbolical connection to their homeland.

Nowhere in the entire European Union was a person fleeing their homeland less likely to be granted safe harbour last year than in the Czech Republic. Fresh data from Eurostat show that in 2018 the Czech Ministry of Interior granted international protection to only 1 in 10 applicants – while not a single refugee was resettled here.

Celebrations marking the liberation of Plzeň by General Patton’s Army on May 6th 1945 took place in the West Bohemian city at the weekend. Despite the cold, thousands of people lined the streets of the city to greet the war veterans who rode at the head of the Convoy of Liberty organized in remembrance of the event.

Personal items belonging to the second Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš and his wife Hana, including the late president’s shaving kit and walking stick, have become part of the collection of the Czech National Museum in Prague. The items were donated to the museum by Hana Benešová’s relatives, who live in the United States.