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Eleven Exmoor ponies from Great Britain should soon be grazing the meadows of the national park Podyjí in South Moravia. The horses will be shipped to the country in April as part of the Military Life for Nature project, which aims to protect and maintain valuable plants and species at former military areas across the Czech Republic.

Arctic conditions, with night time lows dropping to – 30 degrees Celsius in places are making life difficult for people around the country. For homeless people the conditions are life-threatening and charity organizations are scrambling to meet the challenge, expanding the capacity of their shelters and seeking out homeless people to offer assistance. Even so, six people are reported to have frozen to death since the onset of Arctic conditions last Thursday. I spoke to Pavla Vopeláková from the Czech branch of the Salvation Army about what is being

Traditionally, the close of the Christmas holidays kicks off the largest and most successful fund-raiser in the country. The Three Kings Collection, organized by the Catholic charity Caritas involves thousands of volunteers, most of them children, taking to the streets dressed as the Three Wise Men, singing carols and asking people to donate money to charity. Jarmila Lomozová from Caritas, herself an enthusiastic caroller, told me more about the event which is now in its 15th year.

Czech astronomers have warned of the growing impact of so-called light pollution – excessive or obtrusive light – from surrounding cities and towns which impact the environment as well as human health. They met with Environment Minister Richard Brabec on Thursday, hoping to agree on new legislative steps which could be introduced to regulate light pollution and return some areas to the dark.

Part of a 100-page personal report on the Charter 77 period written by Václav Havel is set for publication on Friday as part of events marking the 40th anniversary of the launch of the Charter 77 protest document. After being lost for many decades, the valuable text was recently discovered in the papers of another leading Chartist and friend of Havel’s, the late Zdeněk Urbánek. Michael Žantovský is the director of the Václav Havel Library, which is issuing the facsimile of the major find. He told me more about it.

The brutal attack on Czech tennis star Petra Kvitová shocked not just the Czech Republic but the world. But in spite of an encouraging response from the public to police appeals for help and high priority for the case, the attacker has still not been found. The tennis star’s home tennis club has now stepped in with a bid to help the investigation.

Medical tourism in the Czech Republic has suffered a major shock after news emerged that a fertility clinic in Brno mixed-up two embryos before Christmas. Staff at the facility implanted the fertilised eggs in the wrong patients, both from EU states, in what is the first known case of its kind in the country.

The Czech Republic is the latest country in Europe to report the outbreak of bird flu. On Wednesday, Minister of Agriculture Marian Jurečka confirmed that the highly contagious Avian Influenza was discovered in birds at two poultry farms in South Moravia. Following tests on a dead specimen, veterinary officials confirmed that the flu strain is the highly pathogenic H5N and have ordered a safety perimeter instated around the farm.

The Interior Ministry wants to push through a constitutional amendment which would enable Czechs with a firearms license to use their weapon against perpetrators of terrorist attacks such as those in Berlin or Istanbul. The proposal, which would have to be approved by Parliament, has evoked mixed reactions.

This Tuesday marks 80 years that the first match was held in the country’s first national hockey league. The teams Sparta Prague and Vítkovice faced off on a natural ice rink in Ostrava-Vítkovice. Forward Vilém Kubečka scoring the very first goal but Sparta came back to tie it. For much of the month, the league, now known as the Extraliga, will be celebrating the anniversary.