Czech Republic tops Britain to advance to Billie Jean King Cup finals

Female Czech tennis stars topped their counterparts from Great Britain Saturday in Prague to advance to the Billie Jean King Cup finals later this year. Markéta Vondroušová played MVP for the Czech team, defeating Harriet Dart on Friday and U.S. Open winner Emma Raducanu on Saturday before teaming with Karolína Muchová on a decisive doubles match victory over Dart and Katie Swan to seal the win for the Czech team.

"I'm happy with the level of my game. I played well, I enjoyed my stay on the court," Vondroušová, who won silver at last year's Olympic Games in Tokyo, said after the victory. "We're a new team, a young team, we're fighting for the finals." Linda Fruhvirtová and Tereza Martincová took losses for the Czech team, tying Britain 2-2 on Saturday and forcing the final doubles match.

A three-year-old child has died and two other children are being hospitalized following a stabbing attack in Karlovy Vary on Saturday. Police have arrested a suspect in the attack, who is reportedly the mother of the three children. According to hospital reports, the two other children are aged six weeks and five years old; the five-year-old was airlifted to Prague for treatment.

"At around 4:00 p.m., a violent criminal act occurred in Karlovy Vary in which one minor suffered fatal injuries," Karlovy Vary police spokesperson Jakub Kopřiva told local media. "Two other minors were driven to the hospital with injuries," he added. Police are now investigating the case.

Unseasonably cool temperatures will continue to be felt in the Czech Republic tonight as the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute has issued a frost warning for the entire country from midnight through 9:00 a.m. Monday morning. The frost warning includes a risk of damage to foliage, and especially flowering fruit trees.

While temperatures in Prague remained slightly above freezing early Sunday morning, most other Czech locales saw temperatures range from minus three to plus one degrees Celsius. Temperatures are forecast to dip below freezing once again tonight as the country prepares for the Easter Monday holiday.

Czech sharpshooter Jiří Přívratský, who competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, led a team of Czech shooters to three gold medals at the 2022 International Shooting Sport Federation World Championships in Rio De Janeiro this weekend. During the final event, the Czech team comprised of Přívratský, František Smetana, and Petr Nymburský defeated Norway 17-3 to win their third gold and fourth medal overall.

Přívratský took part in each of the gold medal victories, winning the lying, kneeling and standing shooting individual competition and the mixed air rifle competition together with Lucie Brázdová. At the ISSF World Championships this year in Rio, only the German team won more gold medals than the Czechs, with a total of five.

Vehicles from a Dutch military convoy moving across the Czech Republic this weekedn collided on Saturday, but no injuries were reported, according to police spokeswoman Dana Čírtková. The accident, which involved five military vehicles, will be investigated by both regular and military Czech police.

"None of the soldiers were injured in the accident, but an emergency service vehicle was sent there in order to examine the soldiers' health condition," Čírtková said, adding that the soldiers were leaving from the military area in Rančířov. Following the accident, the convoy continued to Břeclav, in South Moravia.

Easter celebrations in the Czech Republic will include some unseasonably chilly weather this year. The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute has issued a frost warning for almost the entire country from midnight tonight until 9:00 a.m. on Easter Sunday morning. The frost warning includes a risk of damage to foliage, and especially flowering fruit trees.

According to the CHMI, average temperatures on Saturday night into Sunday morning will range between plus and minus two degrees Celsius, with lows of minus four degrees Celsius in some locations. Vegetation in all areas higher than 600 meters above sea level could see damage to vegetation caused by frost. The CHMI recommends covering plants with a light non-woven fabric in the early hours of the morning to avoid frost damage.

Czech tennis stars fighting to advance to the Billie Jean King Cup finals in November played counterparts from Great Britain to a 1-1 tie on Friday during a five-match qualifying event at Prague's Štvanice Stadium. While Markéta Vondroušová topped Harriet Dart 6-1, 6-0, Tereza Martincová fell to surprise U.S. Open winner Emma Raducanu 7-5, 7-5.

Today, Vondroušová will play Raducanu while Martincová will face off against Dart on Štvanice's clay courts. In the event of a 2-2 tie, a final doubles match between the Czech team and British team will determine who advances to the Billie Jean King Cup finals. Teen star Linda Fruhvirtová and Marie Bouzková are tentatively penciled in for the decisive doubles match, against Katie Swan and Sonay Kartal.

Three AH-1Z Viper combat helicopters and two multipurpose UH-1Y Venoms from the U.S. company Bell Textron are now being manufactured for the Czech Republic, the Czech Ministry of Defence told media on Friday. By the end of next year, Bell will produce a total of 12 military helicopters for the Czech Republic.

"The choice of helicopters was the right step for the modernization of our air force, and cooperation with Bell Textron is certainly a good choice," Czech Chief of staff Aleš Opata, who visited Bell's facilities in Amarillo, Texas earlier this week, said through a press release. "I am looking forward to the joint training of our troops with U.S. Marine Corps pilots and technicians."

Czech animator Vlasta Pospíšilová, who brought characters from Jan Werich's Fimfárum fairy tales to life in a trilogy of feature films, passed away on Friday at the age of 87, according to Fimfárum producer Martin Vandas. Pospíšilová worked in the Czech film industry as a director and screenwriter in addition to an animator.

After studying puppetry and stage design at Prague's Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, Pospíšilová worked under famed Czech animator Jiří Trnka at the city's Puppet Film Studio. She would go on to collaborate on animated and live-action shorts and feature films with filmmakers such as Jan Švankmajer, and work on classic Czech series including Pat and Mat.

Paramedics and firefighters rescued four people from a sinking sailboat on Lake Mácha, a popular Czech leisure destination in the country's Liberec region, on Friday afternoon. Authorities were alerted by multiple reports when the sailboat was observed to be tilted at a 45-degree angle and taking on water.

"With the manager of the marina and his boat, our people helped pull the crew out of the water," Michael Georgiev, a spokesman for the Medical Rescue Service of the Liberec Region, told local media. "They then took them ashore, where our cars were ready to provide them with thermal comfort. A doctor examined them and released them for home treatment. There were three adults and one minor."