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A smog alert remains in effect for parts of Moravia, particularly the Moravia-Silesia, Olomouc and Zlín regions, the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute said. The alert was declared earlier this week over dust emission values that in some places twice exceed the permitted norms. The situation is not likely to improve in the next few days, meteorologists said. Children, chronically ill and elderly people have been advised to stay indoors. The Moravia-Silesia region is one of the most polluted in the country, with heavy industry, traffic and coal heating among the major factors.

The Staroměstská station on the A line of Prague’s metro has been temporarily closed in order to inspect the station’s escalators, the city’s transport authority said. The closure comes after three people suffered injuries last week when an escalator at the Můstek station suddenly went into reverse. The Staroměstská station, located in Prague’s Old Town district, will remain closed for an estimated two weeks. In total, 12 escalators are to be checked in the coming weeks.

Police charged a 45-year-old man from the north Bohemian town of Chomutov with vote-buying, the fifth person in the region to be accused of the crime. Investigators say that during the municipal elections in October, the man gave several people pre-filled ballots and paid them 200 crowns as a reward. The police did not specify which party benefited from the fraud; however, last month, a regional court ordered a new election to take place in Chomutov after 79 identically filled-in ballots had been identified, all of them benefiting several Social Democrat candidates. Police are looking into another five similar cases of election rigging in northern Bohemia.

Many parents of children with autism and other disabilities complain over difficulties they face when applying for state support, the Czech National Disability Council said on Friday. The groups says that officials often do not recognize their entitlements and allocate lower allowances than granted by law. The head of the National Disability Council, Václav Krása, told reporters the number of complaints from parents had increased, and accused institutions of acting in breach of existing legislation.