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The Council of Europe is calling on the Czech Republic to boost efforts to combat human trafficking. While noting significant progress in the area, it says action is needed especially in terms of identifying, protecting and compensating victims, as well as investigating and prosecuting traffickers.

A Czech start-up called PromethistAI is developing a programme that would help people train their memory and improve their cognitive skills. The application, provisionally called Jarmila, is currently being tested on a group of patients suffering from various cognitive impairments. I spoke to Ondřej Hrách, one of the members of the development team, to find out more details about the ambitious project:

As of January the UK has officially left the European Union and a new relationship is currently being negotiated between the two international actors. The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs is doing its best to ensure that Czech expats apply for “settled status” in Britain. However, questions regarding future agreements on programmes that have thus far been key in fostering a strong Czech presence in the UK remain.

One of the most precious items from the archives of the National Museum, a sculpted Celtic head dating back to the Iron Age, is currently on display at the Regional Museum in Olomouc. The valuable sculpture, which was transported to the museum under heavy security, is the highlight of a two-week exhibition of Celtic art.

This Tuesday is “Safer Internet Day”, part of an initiative of the EU SafeBorders project launched in 2004 to raise awareness of threats posed to children online. In the Czech Republic, police have noted a significant rise in cybercrime in recent years, with children increasingly falling victim to bullying and online predators.

Support for Czechs living in Brexit Britain may have been the main reason for Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček’s visit to the UK on Friday. However, he chose to begin the day by honouring the fallen heroes who fought side by side with the British in the Second World War. Under the title “Never Forgotten”, their sacrifice is being remembered through a series of commemorations organised by the Czech Embassy in London this year.

Prague is expected to rename the city square outside Russia’s embassy in honour of slain Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov in time for the fifth anniversary of his killing on February 27. The City Council is also in favour of naming a public space after Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, another prominent Kremlin critic gunned down a decade earlier.

The leading Czech philosopher Erazim Kohák passed away at the weekend at the age of 86. Professor Kohák’s family had to flee the Communists in 1948 and he could only return to his native country after 1989. Among those paying tribute to him have been Culture Minister Lubomír Zaorálek, who says his death will leave a gap in Czech public life.

With Britain having just exited the EU, Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček flew to Manchester on Friday to meet members of the local Czech community and discuss their concerns connected with Brexit. Mr Petříček started his trip by visiting a cemetery in Cheadle and Gatley, south of the city. Radio Prague’s Tom McEnchroe has been following the events on the ground and spoke to us on the phone on Friday morning:

The Bohemian town of Kladruby is famous worldwide for its horse stud farm, founded by the Habsburg emperor Rudolf II. It is also home to a spectacular 12th century Benedictine monastery where the martyred saint of Bohemia, John of Nepomuk, was tried and tortured. An effort is now afoot to have the cloister and Czech Baroque Gothic style church named a European Heritage site.