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Czech insurance companies are currently facing thousands of complaints from unhappy buyers of investment life insurances policies. But the angry buyers have been hampered by the lack of Czech rules allowing them to bring so-called group or class actions. The government is now promising to act.

Prague has seen many memorable concerts over the years by international artists and a few which were legendary. This week, American heavy metal and thrash metal band Metallica was in town on the European leg of their world tour. Not only did the two-hour concert get stellar ratings, the band’s Robert Trujillo and Kirk Hammett made Czech music history when they performed Jožin z bažin by comedian Ivan Mládek and Banjo Band.

A minority coalition of Andrej Babiš’s ANO and the Social Democrats, backed by the Communists on key votes, appears likely. However, ANO have just rejected a Communist bill allowing referendums on leaving the EU and NATO and also disregarded their wishes on expelling Russian diplomats and extraditing a Russian alleged hacker. So why are the Communists evidently ready to play ball with ANO? That’s a question I put to political scientist Jiří Pehe.

Suspected Russian hacker Yevgeniy Nikulin was extradited to the United States from the Czech Republic shortly after a last-minute appeal was rejected by the Constitutional Court. Mr Nikulin was in custody since his arrest in Prague in 2016 on an international warrant. He had also been sought by Russia. So while the decision was welcomed by the United States, not so much the latter.

A short but critical working week is starting on the Czech political scene with the ANO party of caretaker prime minister Andrej Babiš and the Social Democrats needing to seal a deal. The clock is ticking with the new Social Democratic leadership needing to put the outcome of negotiations to party members at a special congress on Saturday.

Members of the Czech scouting movement are marking the 50th anniversary the movement’s short-lived revival in communist Czechoslovakia in 1968. The scouts were banned a total of three times in their more than 100-year-long history in the Czech lands: first by the Nazis and then twice by the Communist regime.

Český Krumlov is one of the country’s top destinations. However, extreme levels of tourism have forced locals out of the medieval heart of the town. Now the leading Czech artist Kateřina Šedá is planning to bring normal life back to central Český Krumlov with a highly novel, “very absurd” project.

Is it time to give the Czech national anthem an update? The Czech Olympic Committee has just unveiled a number of new versions of Kde domov můj, insisting that the 100th anniversary of the state’s foundation it is high time to at least consider an overhaul.

The Stars and Stripes flew alongside the Czech flag on the front of the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday in honour of a visit by Paul Ryan, the speaker of the US House of Representatives. While the speaker is in the Czech Republic on vacation, he met with the prime minister, the Czech speaker and other officials. In his address to the lower house, a rare honour, he spoke about the United States’ commitment to its allies and openly condemned attempts by Russia to sow discord between Prague and Washington.

The Czech Republic on Tuesday joined 13 other EU member states in expelling diplomats in reaction to the recent poisoning of a Russian double agent in Great Britain. The government’s decision to expel three Russian diplomats from the country received broad support with the only sour note coming from the president.