A few thousand citizens attended a commemoration of Jan Palach's death, fifty years ago, to protest the end of the Prague Spring and the subsequent Soviet invasion. Palach's act of self-immolation came to define the Soviet invasion globally and inspired a number of Czech dissidents.

Czech Television reports that the Václav Havel Airport in Prague will shortly embark on a project to expand its parking facilities and to construct a new glass skywalk. The airport spokesperson stated, that the current parking capacity was insufficient, given the massive growth in passenger numbers, over the last few years.

From 17-20 January, two tourism exhibitions will take place at Brno Exhibition Centre, showing off the best that South Moravia has to offer while also informing Brno residents of some of the opportunities available to them in other countries.

In 1969, the Czech student Jan Palach self-immolated to stir his compatriots. He called himself "Torch No. 1" and warned the leaders of Czechoslovakia that others would follow his example if change did not come.

Two more European Union states, Poland and the Czech Republic, have said they are preparing emergency laws to allow Britons to stay to work in their countries legally in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The Czechs say their draft law will mean the estimated 8,000 Britons living in the country are exempt from normal immigration laws until the end of the December 2020. With a 21-month exemption period, it appears to be the most generous of proposals made so far by any member state for Britons settled in the bloc.

Czech Television reports that heavy snow and strong winds continue to batter the mountainous regions of the country, as a Level 4 avalanche threat was declared, in the Krkonoše Mountains and a number of roads were closed.

Fifty years ago on January 16, a young Czech university student named Jan Palach doused himself in petrol and set himself alight at the top of Prague's Wenceslas Square. Three days after staging this desperate attempt to rouse a demoralised Czechoslovakia in the face of Soviet occupation, he died in a burns clinic. Though his immediate political goals failed, Jan Palach inspired and steeled the resolve of countless others to fight for freedom during the two decades of 'Normalisation' that followed the crushing of the Prague Spring.