Czech speed skater Martina Sablikova and the late conductor Jiri Belohlavek will be among the 15 personalities who will receive the Gratias Agit award for promoting the country's good name from Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek on Friday. Belohlavek, chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic who died on May 31 at the age of 71 years, will be awarded in memoriam.

On April the 3rd 2017, a historic trilateral meeting took place at the Bundeskanzleramt, the German Federal Chancellor’s workplace in Berlin. Chancellor Angela Merkel met with her Czech and Slovak counterparts – the Prime Ministers Bohuslav Sobotka and Robert Fico – to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the German-Czechoslovak Neighbourhood Treaty, which was signed on February the 27th in 1992.

Mazanec is a sweet bread with rum-soaked raisins and dried fruit and topped with slivered almonds. It's round with a cross on top, to represent Christ. And it is eaten throughout the Holy Week. [...] Pavla Velickinova, the head of the public diplomacy department at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, D.C., says mazanec is one of the oldest documented Easter foods in Czech history.

Traditional Chinese medicine is readily identified with China by people overseas, an official said yesterday, opening a possible new avenue for the nation to project soft power around the globe. Wang Guoqiang [...] attributed traditional medicine’s high recognition to the authority’s attention to its development and the increasing recognition of its value by the international community.

A cultural exchange delegation from China's Tibet autonomous region attended a seminar in Prague on Friday to deepen exchanges with Czechs. Jinmeiwangcuo, head of the delegation and the director of news office of the Tibet autonomous region government, said that representatives from Czech Senate and Parliament exchanged point of views with the delegation. 

A cultural exchange delegation from China's Tibet Autonomous Region attended a seminar in Prague on Friday to deepen exchanges with Czechs. Jinmeiwangcuo, head of the delegation and the director of news office of the Tibet Autonomous Region government, said that representatives from Czech Senate and Parliament exchanged point of views with the delegation.

Central Europe continues to actively court Chinese investment. But increased coziness with Beijing comes with tradeoffs, including a loss in influence for the region’s traditional ally, the United States. [...] The question is: How much is Chinese investment worth, in terms of domestic politics and international goodwill?