Czech morning headlines: Koněvova street may be renamed to Hartigova, PM Fiala to address the nation

The Prague 3 district authority will ask the City Hall to rename Koněvova Street, which bears the name of controversial Soviet Marshal Ivan Koněv, to Hartigova Street, after Karel Hartig (1833–1905), the first mayor of the local Žižkov neighborhood, the Prague 3 Assembly decided. The assembly members for the opposition ANO criticized the step today, pointing to the administrative difficulties for the inhabitants and firms seated in the current Koněvova Street.

A work of 28 scientific teams in the Czech Republic studying viruses and bacteria will be supported by CZK 1.3 billion from European funds. The National Institute of Virology and Bacteriology (NIBV) will be established, which will connect the institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Charles University, the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, Masaryk University in Brno, and Palacký University in Olomouc. The aim is to prepare scientific knowledge for future pandemics and to provide the government with recommendations based on the most up-to-date scientific knowledge.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala will give a speech to the nation on Tuesday at 8 pm. It will be broadcasted by Czech Television, Nova Television, Prima, and Czech Radio and will cover the current political and economic situation, the Government Office said this morning.

The Czech ticket seller Kiwi.com received an investment of EUR 100 million (CZK 2.5 billion),  Deník N reports. The company received it from a "leading global institutional investor" whose name it did not disclose.

A new investor in Kiwi.com obtained a so-called convertible bond for the mentioned amount. This means that in addition to the entire amount or its shareholding, the investor may also acquire Kiwi.com shares from a domestic company under pre-determined conditions, which the Brno company also did not disclose.

Prague residents welcomed the first day of summer with a dawn yoga class on Charles Bridge, to the accompaniment of piano by composer Karel Havlicek. June 21 is the International Day of Yoga. Other celebrations took place in New York’s Times Square, Paris’ Eiffel Tower, and Sydney’s Opera House. Almost 400 yoga practitioners saluted the first summer sunrise during the one-hour lesson.

The appeals court today extended former Central Bohemia governor David Rath's previous seven-year prison sentence in another branch of his corruption case by one year. Rath, found guilty of accepting bribes and manipulating public tenders, will have to return to jail for several months at least. The High Court in Prague also upheld a previous three-year ban from public procurement for construction company Metrostav and its daughter Metrostav Infrastructure. The verdicts are not definitive. Rath was released from prison in January on probation after spending 3.5 years of his seven year sentence.

A person who was acting aggressively toward people on Slovanský ostrov jumped into the Vltava in front of the police and tried to swim. Police initially chased him on a pedal boat, but to catch up with the man, they had to borrow a motorboat. The incident happened last week, but the police just released the video. "Anyone who has ever ridden a pedal boat will probably admit that it is not exactly the most agile machine, and the swimmer therefore had an advantage in maneuvering," Czech Police spokesman Jan Daněk said. The person was caught and has only been identified as a foreigner who ended up in the hospital. Once he is released, the police will deal with the incident.

Ukraine, end of energy dependence on Russia, the build-up of defense capabilities, trade deals, support to civic society and free media as well as Transatlantic links are Czech EU priorities, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský told journalists. In connection with Ukraine, Lipavský mentioned support for its territorial integrity, humanitarian and postwar rehabilitation, as well as support for its EU candidate status. Energy priorities include the use of renewable sources and climate protection. For defense, there is the implementation of the Strategic Compass collective defense strategy.

Southwest Bohemia will be hit by strong storms again on Wednesday. They will occur in the second half of the day and may be accompanied by torrential rain, gusts of wind up to 70 kilometers per hour, and hail, the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMÚ) said. Storm warnings apply to the southwestern districts of the South Bohemian and Plzeň regions and to the western half of the Karlovy Vary region from 4 pm tomorrow to almost midnight.