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Friday was the deadliest day on Czech roads so far this year, with five people losing their lives in traffic accidents on the last day of the school year. According to preliminary police data, the June death toll has now risen to 40, compared with 46 for the whole of June last year. Nine other people were seriously injured in Friday's crashes.

Since the beginning of the year, 181 people have died in traffic accidents in Czechia, just two fewer than during the first half of last year. Friday was also the deadliest day on Czech roads since 15 June last year, when eight people were killed.

Two of Friday's victims were pedestrians. An elderly man was struck and killed by a car in Prague, whose driver later tested positive for cocaine, while a 70-year-old woman died after being hit on a pedestrian crossing in Český Těšín.

With ongoing climate change, summer can be just as dangerous as winter in terms of risks to life and health for people without housing, and this situation is expected to worsen in the future, the regional director for Bohemia at the Salvation Army, Jan Desenský, told CTK today. He said systemic measures similar to those implemented by cities in winter should be introduced in response. Field workers are currently distributing water and inviting people without shelter to day centers.

In humanitarian services, winter has traditionally been considered the critical period, but this is changing in recent years, Desenský said. “Data from southern countries show that extreme temperatures can be just as dangerous as frost,” he said. According to him, cities are not yet prepared with systemic plans for extreme temperatures, which can pose risks such as dehydration or heart problems.

The widespread power outage that affected parts of Czechia last July was caused by a combination of several unrelated technical and operational incidents, a group of international experts said, confirming the findings of last year's investigation by the Czech power grid operator.

To help prevent similar incidents, the experts also recommended tightening certain grid operation standards, expanding preventive measures, and revising some operational procedures.

The massive power outage on July 4 last year, which lasted several hours, affected about one million of the Czech Republic's 6.3 million electricity customers.

Prague police arrested two men on Tuesday who were the subjects of nationwide wanted notices. The first had been convicted, though the verdict is not yet final, of sexual offences and was preparing to travel to Central America. The second had failed to report to prison to serve a sentence for drug-related crimes.

"In both cases, officers obtained information while working in the field as part of their regular duties. After assessing the intelligence, they were able to locate and apprehend both individuals," police spokesperson Jan Rybanský said.