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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will visit the Czech Republic at the end of January to take part in a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp in Auschwitz, Poland. The information was confirmed by Ukraine's foreign minister, Pavlo Klimkin. Mr Poroshenko is the first head-of-state to confirm he will attend. Earlier this week, President Zeman invited representatives of the victorious powers in WWII but was cricitised by some for including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The heads of states of other countries including Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Israel, have also been invited, the Czech Federation of Jewish Communities has said.

According to the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute and a long-term forecast released on Saturday,temperatures in the run-up to this year's Christmas holidays are expected to be milder than usual. In December, daily temperatures should on average around six degrees Celsius in the days before the holidays, only dropping to zero around Christmas Eve.

Two cars of a Polish transport trained derailed on track near Ostrava late Friday and were dragged 1.5 kilometres along the side of the route before the vehicle stopped, broken into three pieces. No one was hurt on the incident. Damage to the railways, including utility poles which were struck down, has been tabulated at 5.6 million crowns. Use of the route will be limited for the next few weeks as repairs are conducted.

The editorial board of the US daily the Washington Post published a scathing editorial on Friday slamming leaders in the former eastern bloc, specifically Czech President Miloš Zeman and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The daily, reflecting on notable pro-Russian statements in the face of EU sanctions and the crisis in Ukraine, described the Czech president as a "virtual mouthpiece for Russian President Vladimir Putin" and maintained as worrying that the current Czech government had distanced itself from a human rights agenda laid out in the 1990's by the former president Václav Havel. The late Mr Havel was honored in Washington this week with a ceremonial bust unveiling. But his legacy has been questioned by some Czech ministry officials as well as long criticised by former president and rival Václav Klaus and associates.

In its piece, the Washington Post noted as positive that the behavior of both Mr Orban and Mr Zeman had led to protests in their respective countries. On November 17th, the Czech head-of-state was jeered by students during a plaque unveiling and his security detail had to open umbrellas to prevent the president from being pelted with eggs. Mr Zeman told the people in the crowd he was unafraid of them as he was unafraid to protest 25 years ago.