News

The state plans to intensify inspections of the technical condition of vehicles on Czech roads in order to boost road safety, Transport Minister Martin Kupka announced on Thursday. Although vehicles must undergo roadworthiness tests every two years, road checks have revealed that many vehicles fail to meet the required standards. According to Deputy Police President Tomáš Lerch out of 363 vehicles selected at random on the road 77 percent were found lacking in some respect.

The Transport Ministry is planning to establish a new road inspection authority, which will be entitled to carry out technical inspections of vehicles and check up on technical inspection stations and emission measurement stations. It will be able to stop vehicles, impose fines on the spot or even confiscate licenses.

The Regional Court in Hradec Králové on Thursday handed out prison sentences to all 14 foreigners accused of people smuggling from Turkey to the Czech Republic and other EU countries. The highest penalty was a sentence of 5.5 years in prison and a hefty fine, the rest received 3-year sentences. According to the judge, the accused acted as an international organized criminal group operating in multiple countries and facilitated the illegal crossing of at least 2,000 migrants, mostly Turkish Kurds, to Europe.

More than 490 schools around Czechia received bomb threats on Thursday, for the third day in a row, police said on the X network. Police consider the danger to be very low, but many schools have opted to close or take classes outside as a precaution. The police are investigating the targeted attack in collaboration with the Slovak authorities, where hundreds of schools received similar threats. A task force of representatives from the ministries of education, interior, and police has been formed to address safety concerns.

The Fiala cabinet has agreed to establish a Government Council for Public Health as its advisory body. The council will focus on promoting better prevention and monitoring health risks in view of improving the overall health of the population and extending health expectancy in old age, which is poor in Czechia compared to European standards. The new advisory body will meet for the first time in the autumn. The government has a number of advisory bodies, such as those for competitiveness, human rights or research, development and innovation.