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Despite the Czech Republic stagnating in the worldwide effort to bring about gender equality, the country’s government plans to cut funding for equality projects significantly in the coming years. That’s according to the Czech branch of the international NGO network, Social Watch.

The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, one of the leading ensembles in the country, has embarked on their 12th tour of Japan, where they are scheduled to play over a dozen concerts. Just a few days before they set off on their journey, I caught up with the orchestra’s head Jakub Čížek and asked him for more details about the tour:

Czech doctor and political activist Marek Hilšer first made headlines in 2014, when he and a colleague stripped to the waist at a government press conference to protest Russian aggression towards Ukraine and show support for the EU and Nato. Now a household name – having staged a bid for the presidency in a grassroots campaign – he is running for the Senate, to represent Prague districts 2 and 3. I spoke to Dr Hilšer after he officially announced his candidacy on Tuesday at a Prague café.

Prime Minister-designate Andrej Babiš presented his proposed new cabinet line-up to the Czech president for approval on Sunday, two days after the centre-left Social Democrats agreed – following a party referendum – to join Mr Babiš’s centrist ANO party in a coalition government. But the political uncertainty is not over, with the foreign minister nomination proving controversial.

Prague Castle is hosting a two-day festival of mini breweries. The annual event, which kicks off on Friday afternoon, will offer the cream-of-the-crop of Bohemian and Moravian producers as well as three Austrian mini brewers. Altogether, visitors can taste 130 different kinds of beer.

After eight months of stalemate the Czech Republic looks set to get a new government capable of winning a confidence vote in the lower house. According to as yet unofficial reports, the Social Democrats have endorsed a coalition agreement on forming a minority government with the ANO party which would rely on support from the Communists.

The Interior Ministry this week issued its annual report on extremism, in which it says that ultra-right groupings are no longer politically relevant and their agenda has been adopted by the Freedom and Direct Democracy Party (SPD), which however cannot be defined as “extremist”. I spoke to extremism expert Miroslav Mareš, about the gradual seeping of in tolerance into mainstream political parties and why it is that the Freedom and Direct Democracy Party cannot be defined as extremist.

What are today’s most pressing housing challenges? What are the current trends in residential development? And how to plan and build for well-being? These are among the questions that will be discussed in Prague this week by some of the world’s leading architects and urban planners, who will be attending the annual reSITE conference.

Plans to cut housing benefits for the socially disadvantaged are in the spotlight ahead of a special debate scheduled for the lower house on Thursday. The ANO government say the move will curb landlords exploiting the poverty of others – but members of the opposition warn that it could undermine the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. I discussed the issue with Kumar Vishwanathan, a community worker in North Moravia.

Restoration work on Prague’s famous medieval Astronomical Clock at the city’s Old Town Hall has revealed hidden secrets; a number of objects which were placed in the tower by former restorers. The discovered objects include small stone statues of animals and a letter hidden in the hollow of the statue of St. Thomas, which was left there in 1948.