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At least 70 meteorological stations around the Czech Republic have measured record high temperatures in the last four days. The highest measurement as of Thursday was in Prague’s Karlov station, where it was 36.5 degrees Celsius during the day, which beat the 2002 record by two whole degrees. The oldest meteorological station in Prague’s Clementinum, which has been recording data since 1775, will announce the highest measurement for the day in the evening, and it is expected to break even the temperature in Karlov. Thursday, though, is expected to be the last day of extreme heat in the near future. Starting Friday temperatures are expected to decrease and rain will most likely set in for the next week.

In his first press conference since the fall of the government on Monday, President Miloš Zeman stressed that naming the next prime minister designate and doing so quickly was his responsibility as the head-of-state. The current coalition of the Civic Democrats, TOP 09, and LIDEM officially ended on Monday following the premier’s resignation; the cabinet has been asked to govern for an interim period. As a way out of the crisis, the president could name a candidate from among the Civic Democrats to try and renew the centre-right coalition or could decide on a candidate of his own choosing to lead a caretaker government. The president has also not ruled out the possibility of early elections, but made clear the drawback there would be legislation (due to be discussed by Parliament) being swept off the table. Early elections would also cost the country around 500 million crowns, Mr Zeman noted, would be “thrown out the window”.

Police questioned Jana Nagyová – the former chief-of-staff to outgoing Prime Minister Petr Nečas – for six hours on Wednesday, her lawyer revealed. The aide, linked romantically to Mr Nečas, has been charged with bribery and abuse of office and is a central figure in the scandal that brought down the government this week. According to her lawyer, Eduard Brun, Ms Nagyová answered questions in detail. Mr Brun said it surfaced during the questioning that his client had not meet with politicians as a state official but as a friend. Ms Nagyová allegedly had the prime minister’s wife and others spied on by military intelligence.

Detectives from the country’s anti-mafia unit on Tuesday arrested a 46-year-old suspect believed to be one of the most important figures in Georgia’s Kutaisi crime gang. Across Europe, 32 individuals were detained; the group is suspected of blackmail, the planning of murders, and money laundering. Czech police began investigating the gang’s activities on Czech soil in 2011; in 2012, the authorities began cooperation with international law enforcement. Besides arrests by the Czech and Italian authorities, arrests were conducted by detectives from seven additional countries including Hungary, Lithuania and France.