The two-day peace summit on Ukraine held in Switzerland over the weekend was attended by 93 countries from around the world. Russia and China were notably absent. And the BRICS member states present failed to sign the joint declaration on the agreement reached. So how effective will it be in paving the ground for peace-talks and what was the Czech contribution to the debate?

The Czech-Canadian émigré author and publisher Josef Škvorecký wrote his novels and stories on reams of paper. After his death in 2012, he left behind over 140 boxes of documents, manuscripts and personal correspondence, which he donated to the university library in Toronto. These are rarely shown to the public – but recently they were put on display during a conference for Czech teachers in North America.

Czech President Petr Pavel and his wife Eva received the outgoing Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová and her partner Juraj Rizman at Prague Castle on Thursday. With the trip, Čaputová has concluded her farewell foreign visits before the end of her five-year mandate.

The 2024 European Football Championship gets underway in Germany on Friday and among the two dozen nations taking part are Czechia. But what are the Czechs’ chances of reaching the knockout stages, given that their group also includes Portugal, Greece and Turkey? That’s just one question I put to football journalist David Čermák.

Róza Andělová is a budding young Czech actress who studied French and English literature at Charles University. Magdalena Kadula invited her to Radio Prague’s studio to talk about her work, the opportunities for English-speaking actors and actresses in Prague and how she happened to get into acting in the first place.

The Czech government has moved to open the labor market to foreign workers from nine countries outside of the European Union. As of July 1, foreign workers from the selected states will no longer need employment cards or work permits in Czechia.

This weekend representatives of 90 or so states will be taking part in a conference at the Bürgenstock Resort in Switzerland aimed at finding a route to sustainable peace in Ukraine. Specifically the event will focus on issues such as nuclear safety and security, food safety and prisoner exchanges and the protection of civilians. Formally named the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, it follows other such gatherings based on the Kyiv government’s own peace formula. Notably, however, it will not feature any representation from Russia. What’s more, other major states such as Brazil and China have ignored invitations to attend. Czechia, by contrast will be there, represented by President Petr Pavel and Deputy Foreign Minister Jan Marian – and for Prague’s perspective on the summit I spoke to the latter at the Ministry of Foreign Affair’s Czernin Palace on Thursday.

The Czech government has approved a proposed amendment that would outlaw corporal punishment of children. Czechia is one of the last EU member states to adopt such a regulation and while there will be no sanctions for breaking it, child experts hope it will change age-old habits.

Some seven percent of children and adolescents in Czechia witnessed or directly experienced repeated domestic violence last year. This behaviour is often linked to excessive alcohol consumption. Experts across the board are currently drafting an action plan regulating access to alcohol and reducing alcohol-related damage.

Under pressure to decide the never-ending battle between outdoor concert organizers and local residents regarding excessive noise, the Czech Health Ministry has ruled in favour of the culture scene. In a statement published on its web page, the ministry argues that short-term exposure to loud music is a nuisance, rather than a health risk.