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The libertarian US think tank Cato Institute has severed ties with former Czech president Václav Klaus over his support for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the news website The Daily Beast reported. Mr Klaus became a distinguished senior fellow at the Washington-based institute shortly after his second term as Czech head of state expired in 2013, in recognition of his long-term views. But according to the report, the institute ended its official relationship with Mr Klaus in September over his support for the Russian president as well as his attitude toward gay rights and his very open association with far right groups.

The Czech government on Monday approved a new waste management strategy for the next ten years. The Environment Ministry said that under the plan, the recycling of waste should increase while the volume of garbage stored in dumps should decrease. However, critics say the plan lowers the recycling target from 50 to 35 percent of waste, with more waste likely to be incinerated in the future. Last year, some 30 percent of waste was recycled in the Czech Republic, with the EU average being around 40 percent.

The police in the Czech capital are searching for a serial rape suspect, a spokesman for the police said. Two women fended off an attack on Sunday night and early Monday morning in the district of Prague 4, according to the police which described the attacker as a man of around 25 years of age who speaks Czech with a presumed Ukrainian accent. The investigators say that the man most likely raped another woman in the same neighbourhood on Wednesday morning.

Regular live radio interviews with President Miloš Zeman will be most likely discontinued after Czech Radio CEO Peter Duhan said the programme’s future editions would have to be pre-recorded, an idea previously rejected by the president. Mr Zeman came under fire over vulgar remarks he delivered in November’s edition of the programme; Czech Radio’s supervising board later said the public broadcaster breached the law by airing the interview. Mr Zeman’s spokesman said on Monday the president’s office would find a way to make sure listeners still have an opportunity to hear the head of state in a live radio interview. A live radio interview with then president Václav Havel was first broadcast in 1990, and continued until 1998. Czech Radio revived the programme last year, and has since broadcast the interviews every three months.