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Reducing the size of agricultural fields can significantly decrease vole populations in the landscape and thus reduce the damage these rodents cause to farmers, according to scientists. Smaller areas are less attractive to voles, and the positive effect extends across the entire agricultural landscape. Smaller fields can also reduce crop damage and the frequency of interventions, including the use of poisons to control voles. This follows from a study by researchers from the Faculty of Science at Palacký University Olomouc, Mendel University in Brno, and the National Centre for Agricultural and Food Research in Prague.

Scientists found that reducing the average field size from 18 hectares to 13 hectares leads to about an eight percent decrease in the average population of the common vole, while reducing it from ten to five hectares results in a drop of about 15 percent.

Czechia is not meeting the defence spending it committed to within the NATO, nor the military capacities it promised to ensure for collective defence. If all NATO members behaved this way, its collective defence would become ineffective, President Petr Pavel said today at a conference of CNN Prima News called Money Money Money. According to him, sufficient defence strength is the best way to prevent possible aggression by a foreign state.

According to Sunday’s statement by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Czechia will not meet this year’s commitment to spend two percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence. Pavel pointed out that the country is fulfilling only about 50 percent of the promised defence capacities for NATO.

The Czech Republic is not yet prepared for the efficient construction of a high-speed rail network planned for completion around 2050. The state has not established the necessary conditions for construction, has not identified funding sources, and has not finalized negotiations with neighboring countries on cross-border connections. It has also failed to fully demonstrate the expected benefits, according to an audit by the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ).

The audit warns that expected benefits, such as time savings, regional development, and lower costs for transport operators, may not materialize. For example, achieving time savings requires both complete routes and modernized stations, yet the Prague rail hub is not scheduled for modernization until 2047, while the Prague–Brno high-speed line is expected to open by 2036.

The Transport Ministry, however, says the NKÚ’s conclusions are outdated, as the project has already been updated.

Clear to partly cloudy, with increasing high cloud cover from the west in the afternoon and evening. Daytime highs 14°C to 18°C, around 13°C in places in the northeast.