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This week marks exactly 80 years since the Soviet Union officially granted amnesty to Czechoslovak prisoners who were being held in Gulag labour camps. Thousands of young men escaped from occupied Czechoslovakia into the Soviet Union at the beginning of World War II, only to be accused of false charges and sent to work in the notorious Soviet forced labour system. Those who survived went on to fight alongside the Red Army on the Eastern Front.

The Czech Society for Ornithology has named the European greenfinch Bird of the Year 2022. The small passerine bird, known for its bright yellow and green feathers and melodic chirping, is currently facing hard times with population numbers sharply declining.

Rostislav Čapek is an internationally renowned instrument maker, who specialises in crafting banjos and mandolins for bluegrass musicians. A great fan of the genre, he also helped produce a Grammy nominated bluegrass album and regularly organises bluegrass concerts for american musicians in the Czech Republic.

Hundreds of women coerced into or otherwise illegally subjected to sterilisation in decades past may now apply for compensation, in the form of a one-time payment of 300,000 crowns. The Czech state could pay out up to 120 million crowns to women – overwhelmingly of Romani ethnicity – who were sterilised without their informed consent between July 1966 and March 2012.

Facing a potential acute labour shortage, the Czech government has cut isolation requirements for people who test positive for Covid-19. From next Tuesday people will need to stay home for five days, instead of the current 14.

Sometimes the best souvenirs of a place are things that unexpectedly come your way and cost nothing. Brno’s astronomical clock provides tourists with the chance to take away something special.

Wednesday marks exactly 110 years since the opening of one of Prague’s best-known buildings, the Municipal House (Obecní dům). The famous Art Nouveau building was the site of the proclamation of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918 and also witnessed one of the first meetings between dissidents and the outgoing communist leadership in November 1989.

A device developed by Czech researchers enabling musicians thousands of kilometres apart to play together virtually – with no perceptible delay – proved invaluable during the pandemic. So much so, in fact, that the unique device won a European Heritage ‘Europa Nostra’ Award, for helping bring together students and teachers of classical music, as well as entire ensembles. The idea to develop such a device actually came to Dr Sven Ubik of the Czech Technical University years ago, while attending a concert also broadcast on television.

Charter 77, the most significant protest petition in Czechoslovakia in the Communist period, was published 45 years ago, on January 6, 1977. The document called on the government to adhere to its international human rights commitments and was initially signed by a couple of hundred people. I spoke to one of them, Petr Pithart.

The current European Commission sustainable finance taxonomy proposal could bring about complications when it comes to transforming the Czech energy sector, according to ČEZ CEO Daniel Beneš. Together with the Association of Industry and Trade, he has called on the Czech state to suggest revisions to the document, especially when it comes to the sustainability deadlines on nuclear power.