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The former Vice-President of the International Criminal Court, Robert Fremr, has been approved by the Senate as one of the Czech Constitutional Court's three new judges, receiving 36 out of 67 votes. There had been some controversy surrounding his nomination due to recent allegations that he had issued a guilty verdict in a rigged trial in 1988 involving the Communist secret police.

Mr Fremr told senators during a three-hour clarification of the case that he did not knowingly break the law. Nevertheless, some senators, including Senate President Miloš Vystrčil and chairman of the Senate Security Committee Pavel Fischer, questioned his moral integrity.

As a new judge in the Constitutional Court, Mr Fremr will join the Vice-President of the Prague Municipal Court Veronika Křestťanová and civil law professor Kateřina Ronovská. The two women were also approved by the Senate on Wednesday afternoon.

The leaders of the Pirate Party and the Mayors and Independents (STAN) have distanced themselves from an ad that was shared by the Minister for Labour and Social Affairs, Marian Jurečka, on Instagram last week. The ad, which was supposed to promote the planned simplification of the social benefits system, portrayed a Roma man with a can of beer and the inscription "End the abuse of benefits".

The leader of the Pirates, Ivan Bartoš, called on Mr. Jurečka on Wednesday to keep his promise not to divide society and not to turn people against each other, adding that politics based on pitting some against others could score cheap populist points but harms the country in the long run. STAN leader and Interior Minister Vít Rakušan commented that a simpler benefits system is definitely a good thing but the advertisement was not the right way to go about it.

The defence treaty with the United States is an agreement between two countries that in no way diminishes the sovereignty of either of them and saves time that is not available in the event of a crisis, President Petr Pavel stated on Twitter on Wednesday regarding the treaty he signed on Tuesday. He added that neighbouring states, including Hungary, which he described as being very proud of its autonomy and sovereignty, had also signed defence agreements with the US. The president furthermore assured the public that any entry of a soldier from a foreign country onto Czech territory would always be subject to the approval of the government and Parliament.

The Defense Cooperation Agreement sets a legal framework for the possible deployment of US troops on Czech territory in the event of a crisis, dealing with issues from jurisdiction over foreign troops to environmental issues. Criticism during the parliamentary discussion of the treaty came mainly from the opposition SPD party, who said the document is unilaterally beneficial for the United States while Czechia is a subordinate party. Tomio Okamura's party unsuccessfully called for approval of the treaty in a national referendum and for an additional protocol that there would be no American base in the Czech Republic.

However, the document was overwhelmingly approved by both chambers of the Czech Parliament. In the Senate, 66 out of 72 legislators voted in its favour, while in the Lower House, it was supported by 115 out of 144 MPs. The document is still awaiting the signature of Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who will sign it after returning from vacation.

The České Budějovice Airport in South Bohemia has launched international operations. The first international flight from the airport leaves on Wednesday evening for Antalya, Turkey.

Until now, the former military airfield was only used for private international traffic, and was authorised to receive and dispatch medium-sized aircraft.

Apart from České Budějovice, there are currently five public international airports with regular operations in Czechia, in Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Pardubice and Karlovy Vary.