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Prospective Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš has unveiled his Cabinet team – but at the moment for the president’s eyes only. President Miloš Zeman wants to vet the newcomers first before they are made public and rushed into place.

At the 16 + 1 talks in Budapest on Monday, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka positively assessed the development of Czech-Chinese relations and said the Czech Republic wanted to host 16+1 summits on medicine and aviation next year.

Archeopark Pavlov, a unique underground museum near Mikulov in South Moravia, has won this year’s Czech Architecture Award, given by the Czech Chamber of Architects. The complex of underground buildings, located at an archaeological site, was selected by an international jury out of 249 entries.

Right-wing party TOP 09 was one of the biggest casualties in the elections in October squeaking by with 5.3 percent of the vote, securing seven mandates and losing 19. Now the party has begun the process of turning things around, electing a new leadership at the weekend. MEP and former justice minister Jiří Pospíšil has taken over from Miroslav Kalousek.

Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, has welcomed a deal for the Czech government to acquire the site of a pig farm in Lety, southern Bohemia, which once housed a World War II internment camp for Roma.

The Czech Embassy in London will on Friday evening celebrate its reopening after a two-year renovation project. The large-scale event will see performances by singer Lenny and artists František Skála and Petr Nikl, a light show provided by Prague’s Signal festival and drinks from the world-renowned bar owner Pavel Tvaroh. Ahead of the celebration, I caught up with Ambassador Libor Sečka at his newly remodeled office.

A Czech court has found Jana Nečasová – the former mistress of ex-prime minister Petr Nečas – guilty of misusing her position to gain intelligence in order to spy on her lover’s then wife. Nečasová, who denies the charges, is now considering whether to appeal the ruling.

Three Plastic Rooms, a new English translation of the novel Umělohmotný třípokoj by Petra Hůlová, has just been published. Marking the book’s official launch, the author spoke at an event attended by local aficionados of Czech literature in London this week.

The annual Czech Press Photo competition, which evaluates both professional and amateur journalistic photographs from around the world, has selected the winners of the 2017 competition. And for the first time, the winner is a photograph taken not with an expensive camera, but with a simple cell phone.

An article published on the website of Russian state-wide television channel Zvezda on Tuesday has drawn very sharp responses from Czech politicians, including Miloš Zeman, the Czech head of state. He called the article, which argued that Czechs should be grateful for the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, an insult to the nation.