In 2022, Prague welcomed more than six million tourists to the city, but other parts of the country, regions in Moravia in particular, struggle to lure in visitors. CzechTourism is trying to change this by focussing campaigns on other parts of the country, and CEO Frantisek Reismuller told me more about them.

Czechia will be introducing a deposit return system on plastic bottles and cans from 2025. The new system means people will no longer sort their drink containers into the large colourful recycling bins that can be seen on almost every street corner, but instead will return them to supermarkets or other collection points.

Countless tributes have been paid to Karel Schwarzenberg, who died at the weekend at the age of 85. In the communist era the aristocrat supported dissidents in Czechoslovakia, before serving as President Václav Havel’s office chief after 1989. He was later active in politics and had two stints as Czech foreign minister. I discussed Karel Schwarzenberg with his friend Michael Žantovský, who was himself Havel’s spokesman in the early 1990s.

The 1989 Velvet Revolution, ending over four decades of Communist one-party rule, spelled seismic change for Czech society. Words like restitution and lustration became common parlance in the early 1990s, as the transition to democracy was accompanied by a legal reckoning with the past. But how effectively was justice served in that period? How successful was the rehabilitation of political prisoners, many of whom had suffered greatly under the recently departed Communists?

This weekend Hindus around the world will mark Diwali, the holiday that celebrates the triumph of light over darkness. Here in Czechia, the Prague Zoo celebrates the occasion every year, highlighting the animals native to India in their care. Filip Mašek, head of the press unit of the zoo, told me more about what’s in store this weekend.

This coming Saturday, Czechs all around the country will be celebrating Saint Martin’s Day, which falls on November 11. On this day, Czechs traditionally sample the season’s first wine and sit down to a feast of roast goose, dumplings and cabbage.

Speaking at a security conference in Prague, President Petr Pavel expressed deep concern regarding the disruption of the world order and the increasing assertiveness of revisionist powers and terrorist groups. He said the democratic world must unite in defence of its values and do everything possible to prevent existing conflicts from spreading.

A team of researchers and doctors from Ostrava recently demonstrated the presence of microplastics in human amniotic fluid for the first time ever. Prior to this study, it had always been assumed that the placenta would prevent any such particles from reaching the foetus, but the presence of microplastics was confirmed in nine out of ten women in the study. To understand the significance of this finding and what it could mean for the health of babies and expectant mothers, I spoke to Ondřej Šimetka, one of the study’s authors.

A new documentary explores the story of the Mašín brothers group, three members of which shot their way from Communist Czechoslovakia to the West in 1953. Escape to Berlin, featuring extensive interviews with the now elderly Josef Mašín and his sister Zdena, is written and directed by Jan Novák. I spoke to him ahead of next week’s cinema release of the film.

Czech Egyptologists have made another important discovery in Abusir – the roughly 2,500-year-old tomb of a young royal scribe. Together with other recent archaeological finds in the area, this newly discovered tomb gives researchers a better understanding of the changes that took place in Egypt and the surrounding area in the 5th and 6th centuries BC.