Czech morning news: Top headlines for Aug. 3, 2022

In Rožnov pod Radhoštěm in the Vsetín region, four people died in a violent crime, two adults and two children. According to the police, the situation is under control and is being investigated. The spokeswoman for the regional police, Simona Kyšnerová, said that she could not yet specify whether the perpetrator was among the dead.

This year, a quarter of the overall approved energy support of CZK 66 billion will go to the cost-saving energy tariff, which is supposed to help households reduce their electricity and gas bills. It should therefore be about CZK 16.5 billion. Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Síkela rejected the media's information that the government will send people only about CZK 10 billion this year and probably only for increased electricity costs.

Síkela also emphasized that the announced support of up to CZK 16,000 per household applies for this year and next year. According to Síkela, the government will decide on the final form of the contribution in the third or fourth week of August.

The pilot of a glider that fell on a moving car while landing near the Rokycany airport late yesterday afternoon suffered fatal injuries, the Czech Police said on Twitter. People in the car that was hit by the glider were not injured. A helicopter and an ambulance arrived on the scene, but nothing could be done to save the pilot.

President Miloš Zeman's suspicion of sabotage during his hospitalization was unfounded, the High Prosecutor's Office announced. However, the possible falsification of a medical report continues to be investigated.

In a complaint submitted at the end of June this year, Zeman wrote that, as the directly elected head of state, he was forced to face an attempt to strip him of his powers. Senate President Miloš Vystrčil has previously called the initiative "almost stupid" because, according to him, it refers to something that did not happen.

In October 2021 Zeman was in intensive care for an undisclosed illness. On Oct. 19, several senators and deputies considered the temporary transfer of power to the speaker of the lower house and the prime minister, as provided for under the constitution.

The number of people who got infected with tick-borne diseases, such as encephalitis and Lyme borreliosis, increased in the Czech Republic in the first seven months of this year, compared to the same period in 2021, according to National Institute of Public Health (SZÚ) data.

From January until the end of July, 259 people were diagnosed with tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in the Czech Republic, which is 28 percent more than last year. Meanwhile, 1,345 cases of Lyme borreliosis were registered, a one-third rise compared to the first seven months of 2021. Doctors warn that even young and healthy people can suffer from tick-borne diseases, though they usually have a less serious course than in those aged over 55.

Portraits of political bishops, clerics, and lay people persecuted by the communist regime for their religion and values are displayed at the exhibition Faces of Prisoners from the Vatican (Tváře muklovského Vatikánu) in the Senate building in Prague. The exhibition was created by Czech painter Claudi Ondok and co-organized by Senator Hana Žáková from Třebíč. The exhibition runs in the conference room vestibule until Aug. 15.

In the Czech Republic, apartment rents rose significantly in the second quarter of this year. In large cities such as Prague, Brno, and Mladá Boleslav, the prices went up by 30 percent. The number of signed leases also continues to grow due to the influx of Ukrainian refugees looking for long-term accommodation as well as university students returning to student towns. 

According to Re/Max real estate network, the increase in mortgage rates and the tightening of the conditions of the Czech National Bank for the approval of mortgages are reflected in the lesser demand for buying apartments. As a result, many potential homeowners are being push to settle for rent.

Major Petra Pihera has become the first woman to command a large foreign mission of the Czech military. She commands an air defense unit from Strakonice, south Bohemia, operating in the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence in Lithuania, the military has announced on its website.

Women have already served in top positions during foreign military missions several times, but so far they commanded only smaller units, General Staff spokeswoman Magdalena Dvořáková said. Women have long made up some 5 percent of participants in Czech military foreign missions, she added.

The cable car from Prague's Podbaba to Bohnice will be designed by architects from the London studio William Matthews Associates. The company succeeded in the architectural competition, which was tendered by the Prague Transport Company (DPP) for the design of three stations and five cableway supports. 

The cable car will provide a direct connection between Prague 8 and Prague 6 until the planned tram line with the new bridge in Troja is built. Stops at Podbaba, Troja, and Bohnice are planned along the more than two-kilometer track. The cable car should be able to transport up to 2,300 people per hour. According to earlier information, the estimated construction costs are CZK two billion.

The period during which the Czech Republic saw a shortage of soil moisture was longer this year than in the drought years of 2015, 2017, and 2018, said Intersucho experts. Intersucho has detected 130 to 209 days with a shortage of soil moisture when the relative saturation on the surface layer is under 50 percent. When there is this level of saturation, plants are at least partly limited in their growth and development.

As another heatwave hits the Czech Republic this week, the risk of fires increases, warns the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ). The fire warning already applies to the Ústí Region, where firefighters are still extinguishing the blaze in Bohemian Switzerland. On Wednesday, the risk of fires will spread to other regions. The temperatures will exceed 31 degrees Celcius in most of the Czech Republic, reaching up to 34 degrees.

Czech period film "Il Boemo," which tells the life story of Czech composer Josef Mysliveček and is directed by Petr Václav, will have its world premiere in the main competition of the San Sebastian film festival to be held on September 16-24. The film will be in the running for the main prize of the San Sebastian festival in Spain, the Golden Shell, which was previously awarded to multiple Oscar winners including Francis Ford Coppola and Elia Kazan.

The film is one of the most expensive Czech films ever made with a budget of CZK 120 million crowns. The Czech-Italian-Slovak co-production was shot in Italy as well as Czechia, in particular in Venice, Rome, Genoa, Naples, Sicily, and the Estates Theatre in Prague.