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Britain is currently the Czech Republic’s fifth largest export market and a successful conclusion to post-Brexit trade negotiations is therefore a top priority for Czech diplomats. However, Czechs are also trying to tap in to new business opportunities in the UK and the British government’s promises to invest in its northern infrastructure and hospitals have been identified as potential new avenues for exports.

Lisa Miková, a 98-year-old Czech woman who survived internment in Terezín, Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps, has been awarded Germany’s highest honour, the Order of Merit. The high honour stems from her decades-long efforts to promote reconciliation among Czechs and Germans and educate young people about the dangers of intolerance.

The change of course in EU financing being discussed at the summit in Brussels, may see future funds allotted to the Czech Republic cut by 24 percent and moreover tied to new priority areas such as climate change and innovation. How would such a shift impact the Czech Republic, which insists that its main investment priority is still road and rail infrastructure? I put the question to Ondřej Houska, a financial expert with the leading Czech daily Hospodářské noviny, who is following developments in Brussels.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš left for a key EU summit in Brussels, which is to shape the alliances’ finances in the coming years, in a fighting spirit. The Czech Republic, a member of the Friends of Cohesion group, faces a 24 percent cut in funds and will vehemently oppose the EU proposal to channel the bulk of a much smaller EU budget into new priorities, such as climate and innovation.

They took a year to design, another year to make, and half a year to install. But the Czech lighting and glass artworks company Lasvit has realised a project of truly epic proportions – crafting two 20-ton dragons, covered in millions of crystals, and suspending them high above a grand hotel lobby, on a far-away island prone to earthquakes.

A three-year legal battle came to an end on Tuesday when the Czech Republic’s highest court rejected a challenge to a conflict of interest law. The legislation was dubbed “lex Babiš” for seeming to target the billionaire prime minister. However, judges denied it placed excessive restrictions on Mr. Babiš or other public officials.

Thanks to incentives, film projects realised in the Czech Republic brought in around USD 390 million to the economy last year, a record number that is double the amount raised in 2018, according to the Czech Film Fund. Aside from a return of part of their investment, producers also benefit from world-class film crews, a large array of well-preserved architecture and marked weather seasons.

Assisted reproduction clinics in the Czech Republic have an excellent reputation and a long line of clients from at home and abroad. Now they have come under fire from male fertility specialists who claim that what was meant to be a last resort has become a lucrative business.

A group of activists protested against the practice of Airbnb at the weekend, holding a three-day-long brainstorm on how to tackle the phenomenon of short-term letting platforms which many believe is hollowing out organic neighbourhoods in the centre. They were joined by Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib, who revealed details about a new City Hall plan for tougher regulations.

Czech scientists have invented a new kind of bioplastic which they say decomposes remarkably fast– and is highly resistant to heat. Researchers from Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín say the product could be brought to market within two years. It could represent a significant advance in global efforts to eventually replace single-use plastic waste.