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In a Sunday interview with Czech Television, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said he still believes a peaceful solution can be found to the Russian build up on the Ukrainian border. However, he also said that the likelihood of a Russian invasion has increased and could happen at any moment. In the face of this threat the prime minister praised EU and NATO unity in confronting the situation.

The Czech Republic’s annual Muriel Award for the best comic book of the year was given to Štefánik, a graphic novel about one of the founders of Czechoslovakia. The novel, a joint endeavour by writer Michal Baláže, Gabriela Kyselová and illustrator Václav Šlajch also received the Czech Academy of Comics Award.

The inhabitants of Dobříš, close to Prague, are calling for a referendum to block developers from building largescale housing on the outskirts of the district. The situation is similar in many of the towns and villages in close proximity to Prague which find themselves massively expanding as Praguers move out of the city due to high prices and the search for better infrastructure.

The effects of the global coronavirus pandemic and the associated chip shortage resulted in a substantial fall in Czech automobile production in 2021 and freshly released data for January showed the worst year-on-year production fall in more than 10 years. According to Jan Bureš, the chief economist at Patria Finance, the next one to two years will likely see the Czech automobile sector fluctuate. What he sees as key for the future is whether local manufacturers manage to successfully react to new trends.

The great Czech film director Miloš Forman would have been 90 on February 18. After creating some of the best films of the Czechoslovak New Wave, Forman enjoyed a second career in Hollywood, winning two Oscars. We speak to some people who knew him.

The concept of Open House, founded by Victoria Thornton in London in 1992, was intended to help citizens start perceiving their surroundings in terms of design and architecture. Thanks to the festival’s success, it expanded to 50 cities all over the world. And one of the cities where it is particularly meaningful is Prague, a city packed with architectural gems, legends and historic sites. Open House Praha, is a non-governmental, non-profit organization which provides this service, bringing the city’s architectural gems to the attention of the broad public and giving them access to places that are not normally open to visitors. I spoke to Michal Šedivý, a guide at Open House Praha, about some of the walks around Prague that they are planning in the coming months.

With soaring inflation people are being advised to invest their money in various commodities. The Czech Mint in Jablonec nad Nisou has just given a select few the chance to invest a whopping 14 million crowns in the biggest gold coin ever minted on the Continent.

The Research Institute for Gene Pool Conservation at the Dvůr Králové Zoo is hoping to reinvigorate the small gene pool of zebras in zoos by collecting semen from animals in the wild. The project is currently being tested and, if successful, could help not just zookeepers around the world, but also store genetic material belonging to the most endangered species of steppe zebra.

Czech archaeologists have made another major discovery in Egypt. During excavations in Abusir, south of Cairo, they unearthed a cache of embalming materials, consisting of 370 large vessels and a number of smaller artefacts used in the mummification process. It is the largest find of its kind from Ancient Egypt discovered to date.

Perhaps the most famous Czech ice hockey player ever, Jaromír Jágr, is celebrating his 50th birthday this Tuesday. To mark the occasion, coin maker České dukáty and the State Printing Works of Securities (STC) are printing a total of 10,000 special banknotes featuring Jágr and paying tribute to the many international successes that the golden generation of Czech ice hockey achieved at the turn of the millennium.