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Genetically modified crops, support of low-carbon energy sources and societal resilience are the main topics that the Czech Academy of Sciences wants to focus on during the Czech Republic’s six-month presidency of the EU Council which will commence from July this year. The goals of the institution were outlined by its chairwoman, Eva Zažímalová, in Prague on Wednesday.

Mrs Zažímalová said that experts from the academy will focus on explaining the importance of the scientific topics to the public. Nuclear power and renewables are the path towards a low-carbon economy that the Academy wants to propagate, she said. Meanwhile, genetically modified crops provide hope for the global population that it could have sufficient food sources despite the effects of climate change, according to the chairwoman.

Attending the conference was also Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who said in his speech that supporting scientists was one of the key priorities of his government. Mr Fiala said that he and his cabinet want to improve the country’s institutional support for research institutions, ensuring a steady supply of funding for development.

Entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic expect to see their costs of running business rise by tens of percentage points this year, according to a survey conducted by the country’s Chamber of Commerce. The costs of energy, entry materials and transportation are all expected to rise and, as a consequence, more than 80 percent of entrepreneurs say that they will have to raise the prices of their consumer products.

The highest rise in prices is expected by business operating in the manufacturing and construction sectors. Around a half of all respondents said that they expect their prices to rise between 10 to 20 percent, with roughly a third of the survey respondents saying that the cost of their products will increase by more than a fifth of what they were last year.

However, some entrepreneurs, especially smaller business owners, said that they will lower their prices.

The National Cyber and Information Security Agency says a number of important Czech websites came under attack on Wednesday morning. The agency said on Twitter that it was monitoring the situation and had not recorded any major impact. It also referred to an earlier warning of possible cyber-attacks it had given in connection with Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Among the sites subjected to DDoS attacks on Wednesday were those belonging to Czech Rail, the state administration and airports.

Czech armaments companies are to repair Ukrainian heavy military vehicles, the Czech Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday. The first contract will be for the repair of T-64 tanks by Czechoslovak Group companies. In future this could be extended to also include repairs on BRD and BRDM armoured scout cars and further Czech firms may take part, the ministry said, without saying how many vehicles could be fixed.

The Czech minister of defence, Jana Černochová, said the Czech Republic was the first partner country that Ukraine had officially addressed with a request to repair machines that needed to be put into operation or had been damaged in battle.