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In the United States city of Chicago, memorials will be held for one of the disasters in the country, the sinking of the SS Eastland steamboat on July 24, 1915. Of the 844 who died, around 220 were estimated to be Czech immigrants. Many of the Czechs were employees of the Western Electric company who were taking the steamboat on a Saturday picnic. The memorial events will include the lighting of candles, the performance of a play about the disaster, and appearances by some of the descendants of those who perished 100 years ago.

Former top Social Democrat politician David Rath was found guilty of rigging public contacts and accepting bribes and sentenced to eight and a half years in prison at Prague’s Regional court on Thursday. The former member of parliament, health minister, and head of the Central Bohemian region was not in court to hear the verdict. Police swooped on Rath three years ago at his home on the outskirts of Prague and found him in possession of a wine box stuffed with seven million crowns hidden inside. Apart from that, the prosecution said that he had received around 16 million crowns in pay-offs and was promised 22 million crowns. Rath cut a controversial figure on the Czech political scene, known for his inflammatory and personal verbal attacks on opponents. Rath told Czech Television he would appeal the verdict and described the court process as “exemplary theatre and nothing at all to do with justice.” The prosecution called for a sentence of at least nine years and confiscation of his assets.

Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs has said that European refugee camps in North Africa would be the worst idea the EU could come up with. Mr. Salaheddine Mezouar on a visit to Prague to see counterpart Lubomír Zaorálek on Thursday said such a processing camp for asylum demands would only serve as a focus for tension and incidents. The idea of citing such a camp in North Africa was initially backed by Czech prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka and Minister of Finance and ANO leader Andrej Babiš. Zaorálek said at this point the main challenge is to bring back some security and stability to Libya, one of the main routes for refugees reaching Europe.

Around 20-50 illegal immigrants are now being dealt with daily by the Czech Foreigners‘ Police, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka told the Czech upper house, the Senate, on Thursday. That volume means that capacity at detention facilities will have to be increased because the current capacity is simply not sufficient, the prime minister added. Illegal immigrants are detained to work out where they come from and where they entered the European Union before decisions are taken on whether to allow them to demand asylum in the country, return them to the EU country where they came from or their homeland. Sobotka repeated his opposition to any EU quotas for accepting refugees.