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The level of the Vltava River in Český Krumlov fell below flood alert for the first in four weeks on Wednesday. The change followed a reduced outflow from South Bohemia’s Lipno Dam.

The river level in Český Krumlov on Wednesday morning stood at 183 centimetres, 40 centimetres below a recent peak caused by rain and thawing snow, according to data from the Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute.

The minister of the interior, Vít Rakušan, says there is nothing revolutionary about the idea of introducing postal voting for Czechs living abroad. Speaking at the start of a debate on a government bill on the matter in the lower house on Wednesday morning, he said Czechia was one of the only states in the EU not to allow for such a form of voting.

The session may for a great many hours, with the opposition ANO and Freedom and Direct Democracy parties expected to filibuster; experts say the two groupings would likely receive a lower share of the vote among Czechs in other countries.

The Czech minister of foreign affairs, Jan Lipavský, has called on the international community to come together to ensure people’s right not to be manipulated. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland’s Davos, he said a global response was necessary to threats posed by new technologies and artificial intelligence in the online space.

Mr. Lipavský said resilience against cyber threats had to be built around democratic culture and civil society, adding that online platform providers also had to also play a role in preventing manipulative content.

Communist-era dissidents are set to get average state old-age pensions even if they didn’t earlier pay sufficient contributions, following a Czech lower house vote on Tuesday evening. Those who can prove their active opposition to the previous regime will see their pensions automatically levelled up under the amendment, which must now go before the Senate.

Pre-1989 dissidents today have low pensions for reasons such as imprisonment, forced emigration or not being allowed to work in their chosen professions; many were only allowed to do menial jobs.