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Czech President Petr Pavel says the government has refused to grant him an official mandate for next week’s NATO summit in Ankara and has sharply reduced his delegation. Speaking to Deník.cz, Pavel described the move as unprecedented and said the cabinet had even specified by name who could accompany him. Although the Constitutional Court ordered the government to ensure his participation after an earlier dispute, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO Party) will lead the Czech delegation. Pavel said he had repeatedly sought a compromise but received no response, adding that he expects to attend the main NATO meeting but not the leaders’ informal dinner.

Severe thunderstorms swept across Czechia overnight and into Tuesday morning, leaving around 20,000 households temporarily without electricity, disrupting rail services and bringing down trees across several regions. The worst outages affected eastern and central parts of the country, although power companies expect supplies to be fully restored later today. Six people, including five children, were injured when lightning struck a tree at a summer camp in South Bohemia, with a secondary electrical discharge reaching nearby tents. All remain in stable condition in hospital. The storms ended a week-long heatwave that culminated in a new Czech temperature record of 41.9 degrees Celsius.

The Czech Constitutional Court has rejected a petition by 32 senators seeking to overturn the formula used to distribute shared tax revenues among the country’s 14 regions. The senators argued that the law does not allow regional shares to be updated to reflect demographic or other objective changes, leading to unequal funding and differences in public services. However, the court ruled that the current system is constitutional. Under the existing formula, the Central Bohemian Region receives the largest share of tax revenues, about 13.8%, while Prague receives the smallest, at roughly 3.2%. The Moravian-Silesian Region receives around 9.6%.

Six people needed medical attention on Tuesday when lightning hit a tree near a summer camp for children in the vicinity of Jindřichův Hradec, South Moravia. An adult was momentarily knocked unconscious and was transported to hospital by helicopter, a spokesperson for the emergency services said. Five minors affected by the lightning strike were also taken to hospital, where they were in a stable state.