Archaeologists in south Moravia have begun excavating the site of a Roman
hospital which is described as the largest preserved site of its kind north
of the Danube. Indeed, it was part of a fortified complex that was the
northernmost outpost of the Roman Empire in the region in the second
century.

After years of seeing their bricks and mortar assets rising in value,
Czechs are now coming to terms with falling prices for flats and houses.
But while gloom and doom mongers predict that a lot worse is still to come,
some analysts can see signs of a recovery.

A row has broken out in the Communist Party over whether or not to
apologise for crimes committed by Czechoslovakia’s former Communist
regime. Twenty years after the Velvet Revolution, the party still largely
remains a pariah on the political scene - at least on the national level.
An apology would theoretically be one step towards political acceptance.

The Czech Interior Ministry on Monday unveiled plans to repatriate another
wave of foreigners from non-EU countries who have lost their jobs. The
government’s voluntary return scheme, offering laid-off workers cash and
a plane ticket home if they agree to leave the country, has been extended
to cover another 4,000 people. For the first time, the government is also
planning to help those living illegally in the Czech Republic to return
home.

The recent flash floods in the Czech Republic have focussed attention on
how quiet streams could be transformed so rapidly into raging torrents
causing destruction and taking lives. Environmental groups are putting the
blame on manmade changes to rivers and the landscape. But while the
Ministry of Environment is mapping out the risks, landscape changes to
cushion the risks still seem a long way off.

Monday was a surprisingly busy day for Czech diplomats focusing
simultaneously on one of the world’s largest countries, Canada, and on
one of the smallest: Liechtenstein. The microstate of 35,000 people has
been the aggrieved party in one of the Czech Republic’s main
international disputes, and only now have the two countries decided to
reopen regular relations after a 60-year diplomatic row.

The Czech Republic has hit back at Canada’s reintroduction of visas on
its citizens within hours of the move being announced by Ottawa. In reply,
Prague has imposed visas on Canadian diplomats and is now seeking tougher
measures from Brussels and EU states. The incident marks a sudden souring
in normally friendly relations.

In the early morning of June 21, 1949, General Heliodor Píka, a hero of
World Wars I and II, became the first Czechoslovak to be executed by the
new communist regime. Today, almost 60 years to the date, the Czech
Republic honoured the memory of one of the greatest of heroes and most
profound of victims.

The Czech government has taken another step to meet its pledge of clamping
down on ever bolder manifestations of extremism in the country. The latest
move is a guide for town and city halls how to recognise extremist meetings
and either refuse them permission to take place from the outset or ban them
once they are underway. The ministry of interior hopes the initiative will
help clear Czech streets of extremists.

The final summit of the Czech Republic’s six-month presidency of the
European Union has just come to an end. Among the main issues on the agenda
at the two-day meeting of Europe’s leaders in Brussels: the appointment
of the next president of the Commission, new rules to oversee the financial
sector, and - first and foremost - the future of the Lisbon treaty.