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The richest Czech, Petr Kellner, is taking over the country’s most popular TV station, Nova. The purchase of Nova operator CME by Kellner’s PPF Group will also give it control of a number of other channels in the region. However, critics say the move is politically motivated and have warned of a new danger to press freedom. Among those voices is Josef Šlerka, director of the Foundation for Independent Journalism.

October 28 is a public holiday in the Czech Republic as Czechs celebrate the birth of independent Czechoslovakia in 1918. Events are held around the country to mark the anniversary and politicians and members of the public pay their respects to the co-founder of Czechoslovakia and the country’s first president Tomas Garrigue Masaryk. Traditionally politicians, cultural figures and church dignitaries gather at Prague Castle for a gala-ceremony at which the president awards high state distinctions for outstanding achievements, professional excellence

Prague’s historic city centre has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1992. However, membership in the prestigious club could come under threat, at least according to a report by UNESCO experts who visited the Czech capital this summer. The Czech Minister of Culture has pledged to look into the matter, but City Hall officials say that the matter has been exaggerated.

An exhibition currently underway at the Czech Centre London and in the Library of Birmingham celebrates a centenary of Czech discoveries and inventions and the emerging generation of scientists and innovators. The interactive show, called Czech Innovation Expo, was prepared by the Czech Centres network together with the Czech Academy of Sciences.

The 23rd edition of the annual Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival gets underway on Thursday evening. Over the course of the next five days, the festival will showcase a total of 277 films, including a section dedicated to the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. I spoke to Marek Hovorka, the festival’s director, and asked to tell me more about the opening film, a tribute to the great Czech cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera:

Prague has a new attraction in the form of 17 circular units – with enormous glass doors – in the walls of riverside embankments on both sides of the Palacký Bridge. The cool spaces will open fully next month and are set to house cafés, galleries and other facilities. At a public presentation of the project on Wednesday I discussed it with architecture critic Adam Gebrian.

For many years now, Czechs have had a reputation of being a dog-loving nation, and a recent survey carried out the STEM / MARK agency confirms that. According to the results of the study, two out of five Czech households include dogs and what is more, forty percent of Czech dog owners allow their four-legged friends into their own bed.

The Czech minister of foreign affairs has come out in favour of firmer EU action against Turkey over its offensive into Northern Syria and attacks on Kurds. Tomáš Petříček says Russia and the Damascus government are benefiting most from the current situation – and says further talks on Turkey joining the EU are at present impossible.

This November Czechs will be marking 30 years since the Velvet Revolution ended totalitarian rule and re-established democracy. However, according to a newly published survey, attitudes towards the change in the system vary significantly among the public, with many of the lesser educated harbouring nostalgia for the old regime.

A 65-year-old man from Prague became the first patient in the Czech Republic to successfully undergo a so-called heart in a box transplant. The surgery was performed by experts from the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine early this month, using a pioneering method of organ retrieval that keeps the heart pumping outside the patient’s body for several hours.