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The Czech NGO Brontosauři v Himalájích has been helping in the village of Mulbekh in Little Tibet for more than ten years now. Their latest project is called Czech Science to Little Tibet and aims to provide regular teaching of science, with the help of Czech teachers and scientists.

While there are still no confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the Czech Republic, facemask and basic pharmaceuticals sales are going through the roof as many have chosen to take precautions. These involve prevention measures in one of the country’s most popular local destinations for Chinese tourists.

A series of events are set to take place in New York and Washington this week to mark the upcoming 75th anniversary of the liberation of Pilsen by US troops. The main goal of the events, which culminate on Wednesday at the National Bohemian Hall, is to invite Americans to take part in the annual freedom celebrations, which are going to be even bigger this year.

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the most infamous of Nazi death camps. Throughout the Czech Republic, memorial services are taking place to honour the memory of the millions condemned to death by Hitler’s fascist regime. It is also a day for helping young Czechs better understand the incomprehensible tragedy – through a historic children’s opera called Brundibár, performed at the wartime Jewish ghetto and concentration camp in Terezín, northern Bohemia.

The government of the Czech Republic have announced a number of special steps in connection with the coronavirus, which has spread across China and to at least 10 other countries. The measures are focused on people arriving by air on Czech territory.

Back in 2006, the Czech Republic became the first post-communist country in the European Union to adopt a “registered partnership” law, granting same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexual ones in such a union. But under current Czech law, gays and lesbians cannot marry here. Jsme fér, an NGO that helped introduce legislation to change that, says a new poll shows widespread – and steadily growing – public support to introduce same-sex marriages.

Palacký University in Olomouc has opened its own campus in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. The university currently offers a course in petroleum engineering within its life-long learning programme and hopes to extend its activities by up to six regular BA courses in the future. I spoke to Martin Kudláček, Palacký University’s Vice-Rector for International Relations, and I first asked him how the project was initiated:

A private Czech foundation has decided to donate an unprecedented sum of money in the history of Czech philanthropy to science. Hana and Dalimil Dvořák, both leading chemists, have pledged to contribute 200 million crowns over the next two decades to dozens of chemistry and science students. The money comes from patent royalties from antiviral drugs used to treat HIV.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš joined world leaders from 49 countries at the Fifth World Holocaust Forum in Israel, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. During the visit the prime minister held a series of bilateral negotiations and met with Czech Holocaust survivors.

In connection with this year’s 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Czech Embassy in London has just launched a special project entitled Never Forgotten. During this year Ambassador Libor Sečka plans to lay flowers at every known grave and memorial of Czechoslovak soldiers who died in the UK in the war years, as well as gathering information on the current state of those sites. I discussed the project with Mr. Sečka on the phone from London.