News

Czech tennis player Tomáš Berdych has won a place in the Wimbledon quarterfinals after a five set roller coaster against Austria’s Dominic Thiem, the eighth seed. Berdych clinched the match 6:3, 6:7, 6:3, 3:6, 6:3 after almost three hours on court. It is the Czech’s fifth appearance in the Wimbledon last 16 where he also reached the finals in 2010. Berdych will face the winner of the match between Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.

British police say they have arrested two more suspects, as well as the initial Czech and Pole, in connection with alleged smuggling of a record arms haul across the Channel. The Czech and Pole were detained last week after 79 hand guns were found in a specially converted van. Police say they are convinced the guns were going to be used for crime. Two more people have now been detained after a raid west of London with around a dozen more guns found, police said. The Czech and Pole have been detained in custody.

Farmers are warning that an ongoing drought in the Czech Republic could be the worst in the last three years. In spite of occasional storms, the ground is not absorbing rainwater. This has led to South Moravia and large parts of Bohemia looking as parched as the Mediterranean. The government is considering mapping drainage systems across the country with the idea of converting them so that they can retain water locally when needed.

The cabinet on Monday approved a plan for the revitalization of the Czech Republic’s three most underdeveloped and economically disadvantaged regions. The government’s plan aimed at sparking the revival of Karlovy Vary, Ústí, and Moravia-Silesia should require a financial injection of approximately 42 billion crowns in the next three years. The regions have the lowest average wages, highest unemployment rates and the most socially excluded areas in the country.