The Duke Wenceslas Future Leaders Programme, which welcomes the diplomats, activists and political analysts of the future to Czechia, has been successfully completed for a second year. Organised by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the scheme this year welcomed ten participants from eight countries, and gave them an in-depth look at Czech life and politics.

Solar e-biking is a new sport that is attracting people from around the world. Two Czechs from Hradec Králové took part in Sun Trip 2024: Destination Sahara earlier this year, covering 7,000 km on solar bikes that they themselves designed.

Approximately 2,400 people develop pancreatic cancer in Czechia annually and almost 2,200 succumb to it over the same period. It can now be detected by regular pancreatic MRI and endoscopic ultrasonography. However researchers at the University of Pardubice say they have found a simpler and equally effective method. If confirmed, Czechia could become the first country in the world to require only a few milliliters of blood for testing.

André Amalio is an actor and director who specializes in documentary theater. He and his wife, Tereza Havličkova, co-founded a documentary theater company called Hotel Europa, based in Portugal. Magdalena Kadula caught up with them on their recent working visit to Prague.

Czechia has vetoed a European Union statement that urged an "immediate ceasefire" between Israel and Hezbollah and condemned the civilian casualties in Lebanon. Critics of the veto argue that it prevents the EU from issuing a unified stance on the latest developments in the Middle East. Divisions among EU member states have surfaced since Hamas’ October 7 attack.

The annual Designblok, the biggest festival of its kind in Central Europe, has just got underway at a number of venues in Prague. This year, the festival centre – the so-called Superstudio – is located at the historical building of Prague City Museum, which opens to the public for the first time since its reconstruction. I discussed the event with Jana Zielinski, the director of Designblok, and first asked her about the choice of this year’s main topic, which is Youth:

In roughly half a year, fans of the video game Kingdom Come: Deliverance will have the chance to explore the streets of medieval Kutná Hora in the upcoming sequel. Anticipating a wave of tourists eager to visit real-life locations from the game, Kutná Hora’s town hall is already preparing to accommodate potential visitors.

A Plzeň building partly designed by the modernist architect Adolf Loos, in which the surrender of the German garrison occurred on May 6th 1945, is set to be renovated and repurposed. The dilapidated building is set to become a new museum all about the events of that fateful year in Plzeň.

Her life story is a story of courage and survival. Jaroslava Skleničková was just 16 when she was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp by the Nazis with her mother and older sister. Her father was executed, along with the other men from Lidice. Despite this terrible experience, which haunted her for the rest of her life, she found the strength to live a fulfilled life, marry, have children and help anyone in need. She died on September 27 at the age of 98, surrounded by her family.

September 30 marks eighty-six years since the signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, by which Czechoslovakia was compelled to surrender the large region of the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany. To commemorate the event, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared official documents and private correspondence from the week leading up to the infamous agreement.