Morning news headlines: New Czech Railways ad features same-sex couple

The number of illegal migrants entering the Czech Republic across the Slovak border has significantly increased this year. They are mostly Syrians coming from Turkey and heading for Germany and Austria. The number of illegal migrants who use Czechia as their transit country rose to 3,651 this year until August 21 from 1,330 last year.

The Interior Ministry increased the number of places in the refugee facilities and wants to tighten the penalties for people smugglers. As the last resort, border checks along the Czech-Slovak border could be re-implemented as well.

Czech Railways published a new advertising spot featuring a lesbian couple. The video was welcomed by the Jsme fér initiative, which has long been striving for equal rights for the unions of same-sex couples. 

Actor Ivan Trojan appears in the advertising spot traveling by train to Hungary together with his wife and daughter, who wants to introduce him to her partner. The campaign "Love and change are in the air" has been a social media hit.

Fewer and fewer Czechs are able to save and more and more households are heading below the poverty line. This is shown by the Czechia 2022: Priceless Life survey, which was carried out for Czech Radio by PAQ Research. Due to the sharp rise in prices, people are also increasingly considering what they will spend their money on. Almost a quarter of households are trying to save, which is about twice the number compared to the summer of 2020.

The poorer half of households with children are focusing on reducing spending on food and consumer goods, and parents are also more likely to start looking for a new job (this also applies to accelerating the transition from parental leave). Another trend is that households are failing to save.

Another survey for Generali Investments, which took place in August among 1,028 respondents, shows that 80 percent of Czechs feel the effects of rapidly rising inflation, and 67 percent fear losing part of their savings. Half of Czechs have also changed the way they try to protect their savings against rapidly increasing inflation over the past six months, out of fear for their finances. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Prague on Monday, Aug. 29. It will be his first trip to the Czech capital as head of the German government. The press office of the German government released the news about the planned visit yesterday. Scholz already received Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala in Berlin in May. "Further details of the trip will be published later," the government's press office said.

On Monday, the repair of the D11 highway and the adjacent part of the D35 started. It is the largest reconstruction since its completion in 2006. For drivers traveling from Prague to the east of the Czech Republic, this means delays, as one lane will always be closed. Road workers on the highways will replace the asphalt surface, the restrictions will last until October 7 this year. According to the Directorate of Roads and Highways, they have tried to minimize traffic complications.

Construction workers will not only work on the D11 highway but will also repair the adjacent part of the D35.

The Czech Telecommunications Authority (ČTÚ) claims in its newly updated report that even though the prices of mobile data in the Czech Republic are decreasing, Czech customers still pay the most in Europe. According to the analysis, mobile service prices are 150 percent higher than the EU average, and one GB of data is 201 percent more expensive.

"Retail prices of mobile services in the Czech Republic are still the highest in the EU. Even if there is a certain decrease in retail prices in the medium term, prices in other EU countries are falling faster than in the Czech Republic. This fact is also confirmed by the latest data and analyzes of the European Commission," the office said.

A man attacked a woman with a knife on the street in Dvůr Králové today, stabbing her several times. The woman was airlifted to a hospital in Hradec Králové. The man died on the spot, the police are working on the version that it could have been a suicide.

Foreign missions of the Czech army cost more than CZK one billion in 2021. Expenses were about CZK 67 million higher than in the previous year, writes ČTK. The most expensive in the long term was the operation of Czech soldiers in Afghanistan, which ended last year with the decision of the U.S. leadership.

The Albanian authorities have released four Czechs who were detained by the police on Sunday while taking photographs near the armory in the town of Poliçan. The investigation into the incident will continue. According to the police, the Czechs were taking pictures of a tunnel that forms the entrance to the factory. The detained defended themselves by saying that they were tourists. 

The arrest of the Czechs took place a day after the incident on Saturday when two Russians and one Ukrainian national were detained trying to break into the armory in the city of Gramsh. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said the trio was suspected of espionage.

Although meteorologists have lifted the warning against heavy rain and floods in some parts of the Czech Republic, it still applies for parts of Moravia, central and southern Bohemia, and Prague until Tuesday morning. There is also a risk of exceeding the second flood stage in some places, warns the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ).

The release of the adventurous film expedition into the urban jungle called Planet Prague (Planeta Praha) is also accompanied by a book. Compared to Jan Hošek's documentary, which focuses on visually attractive moments from the life of Prague's fauna and flora, the publication offers a more comprehensive and detailed insight into the lives of several animal and plant species.