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The Czech Senate has allowed for the adoption of new rules for same-sex partnerships, which gives them most of the same rights as married couples, using an unusual but legal manoeuvre, whereby they voted to simply remove the item from the meeting agenda to avoid a lengthy debate. This automatically allows the one-month deadline for the upper parliamentary chamber to discuss laws, which in this case falls on Thursday 18 April, to expire, meaning the amendment will go straight to President Petr Pavel to be signed into law.

The unusual idea to strike the item from the agenda - the first time such a move has been used in the Senate's history - was suggested by Zdeňko Nytra, head of the ODS and TOP 09 parliamentary club. Nytra justified the proposal with regard to "what has happened recently" in discussions about the rights of same-sex couples, referring to the offensive language that was used by some MPs when the amendment was debated in the lower house.

The removal of the amendment from the program, which was motivated by the desire to avoid lengthy and potentially hurtful and offensive debates about LGBT people's rights, was supported by 47 of the 77 senators present. Those who voted against the proposal were mostly senators from the Christian Democrat party.

Following talks with lawmakers in the US Congress on Tuesday, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said he was "moderately optimistic" about the chances of the US aid package for Ukraine winning approval in the House of Representatives.

Speaking to reporters at the end of his two-day visit to the US, Mr. Fiala said the congressmen appreciated the big role Czechia is playing in helping Ukraine, as well as the Czech shells-for-Ukraine initiative.

The Czech head of government concluded his US trip by paying tribute to the first Czechoslovak President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk at his statue in the diplomatic quarter.

Thanks to the Czech shells-for-Ukraine initiative, 500,000 pieces of artillery ammunition have already been purchased and there is no reason why it couldn’t be another million within the next twelve months, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said at the Hudson Institute on Tuesday.

In his speech, in which he also talked about the Czechoslovak experience with communism, the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops led by the Soviet army in 1968, and the importance of NATO, the Czech Prime Minister highlighted the Czech assistance to Ukraine to date.

He described Czechia as capable and reliable ally with a developed defence industry and good business contacts around the world. He also recalled Czechoslovak arms supplies to the young Israeli state in 1948.

The Czech head of government concluded his speech by saying that without the United States, we couldn’t deal with the crises which we face today and which we will face in the future.

Prague Zoo has selected eight Przewalski's horses, four of which will be transported to Kazakhstan in June in an effort to restore a population of the species in the wild, the zoo announced on Tuesday. The horses are now kept at a breeding station outside Prague.

Over the next five years, some 40 Przewalski horses from Czechia will be transported to the Altyn Dala steppe. The operation will be carried out under the auspices of Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala.

The Przewalski horse is a rare subspecies native to Mongolia, which became extinct in the wild in the 1960s. Prague Zoo has spearheaded international efforts to save the horse, breeding it and returning it to its natural environment.