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Electricity consumption in Czechia continued to grow in the second quarter of this year despite rising prices, according to an analysis by energy company Amper Meteo. Weather-adjusted electricity use was up 2.3 percent year on year, while electricity prices increased by 26 percent.

Despite the recent growth, electricity consumption remains 5.5 percent below the average recorded before the energy crisis. Gas consumption also remains lower than pre-crisis levels, although it rose slightly compared with the same period last year.

Solar power remained Czechia's largest renewable electricity source, accounting for more than three-quarters of renewable generation so far this year. Together with hydro and wind power, renewables covered just over 10 percent of the country's electricity consumption.

According to Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Czechia will not meet its commitment to spend two percent of GDP on defence this year. Speaking ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, Babiš said the main reason was that his government had inherited a budget with a 90-billion-crown deficit from the previous administration. Czechia is one of the three lowest-spending NATO members on defence, alongside Albania and Slovenia.

PM Andrej Babiš and President Petr Pavel travelled this evening to the informal leaders' dinner at the NATO summit in separate motorcades, despite departing from the same hotel. The arrangement reflected the broader pattern of the day in Ankara, where the Czech prime minister's and president's delegations largely operated independently. The situation stems from a months-long dispute between the government and the head of state over who should represent the Czech Republic at the Alliance's key summit.

The unusual Czech representation at the NATO summit also drew international attention. U.S. broadcaster CNN noted the arrival of two separate Czech government aircraft carrying the president and the prime minister, attributing it to what it described as an "obscure domestic political dispute." According to the government, the use of two aircraft was justified by security considerations, while the Presidential Office argued that the trip could have been made using a single plane.

More than 1,000 adult secondary school students across the Czech Republic are taking part in this year's second edition of the army's voluntary military training programme. Forty-nine of them reported for duty this morning at the Castle Guard barracks at Prague Castle, where they received their military uniforms and moved into their accommodation.

Over the next four weeks of the summer holidays, participants will undergo basic practical and theoretical military training at several military bases. Upon successful completion of the programme, the students will gain the status of reserve soldiers.

The voluntary military training programme is open to students in the second to fourth years of secondary school who are between 18 and 22 years old. Its aim is to introduce young people to the functioning of the armed forces and provide them with basic military training.