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The founder of paediatric oncology in then Czechoslovakia, Professor Josef Koutecký, received on Wednesday the Purkyně Award from the Czech Medical Association of J.E. Purkyně in recognition of his life-time work. Professor Koutecký founded that branch of medicine in 1964; in 1978, he established the department of paediatric oncology at Prague’s Motol hospital, the first of its kind in the country, which played a crucial role in raising survival rates of children cancer patients to the current 80 percent. At Wednesday’s ceremony, Professor Koutecký said he was humbled to be awarded the prize, handed out since 1962.

The lower house of the Czech Parliament on Wednesday approved a bill introducing new guidelines for countering cybernetic attacks. The bill, first of its kind to be passed by the lower house, should streamline cooperation between the public and private sectors, and establish a coordinating agency to ensure a fast response to such attacks. The legislation will also require telecommunication providers to report security incidents that occur in their networks, and allow the country’s National Security Authority to declare a state of cyber emergency. The bill is yet to be debated in the Senate.

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka says that the minister of justice Helena Válková has one last chance to prove she is capable of doing her job. The Social Democrat PM made the comment on Tuesday evening after Ms. Válková, appointed by ANO, dismissed the deputy justice minister for prisons, Pavel Štern, a Social Democrats’ appointee, over his handling of a contract to buy electronic tags. Mr. Sobotka said if the minister’s performance did not improve she would have to go. Ms. Válková’s disputes with subordinates have been in the news since Hana Marvanová quit as first deputy justice minister in early June.

A monument to Czech airmen who fought in Britain’s RAF in World War II has been unveiled at Klarov in Prague. The statue in the shape of a winged lion was donated by the city’s British community. It was unveiled on Tuesday afternoon by Nicholas Soames, the grandson of UK wartime leader Winston Churchill. However the monument has been criticised by local preservationists, who say the grassy area it stands on – which already hosts another statue – is inappropriate.