Daily news summary

Ex-political prisoner František Suchý dies at 91

Former political prisoner František Suchý has died at the age of 91. As a teenager Mr. Suchý helped his cremator father keep clandestine records of the names of people executed by the Nazis and the Communists. The pair also hid the ashes of many victims of those regimes.

In later years Mr. Suchý was sentenced to 25 years in a communist jail for aiding a people smuggler working with the US intelligence services. Last year he received a Memory of Nations award recognising his resistance to totalitarianism.

Ozzy Osbourne performing in Prague with Hollywood Vampires, featuring Johnny Depp

Heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath fame will perform in Prague on Wednesday evening. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Grammy-winning singer and songwriter is currently on the Europe leg of his “Farewell World Tour”, which began in May and wraps up in 2020.

Osbourne is celebrating more than five decades as a stage performer. His special guests include The Hollywood Vampires, an American rock supergroup formed in 2015 by Alice Cooper, the actor Johnny Depp, and Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry to honour the music of rock stars who died from excess in the 1970s.

Black Sabbath bid farewell to its fans with their own trek, “The End”, which ended in February 2017 in Birmingham, England.

Zeman may support second Babiš government in person during confidence vote

The Czech prime minister designate, Andrej Babiš of ANO, is hoping that President Miloš Zeman will come to the lower house in person to support his second attempt to form a government, Czech Television reported. Mr. Babiš’s planned government should undergo a confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies on July 11.

The outcome of such a vote will depend on whether the membership of the Social Democrats opts to enter a minority coalition with ANO that would be backed during crucial votes by the Communists. The result of the Social Democrats’ ballot is due on Friday.

Mr. Babiš said Mr. Zeman had expressed interest in attending the lower house confidence vote, which would precede a NATO summit he is set to attend later that day.

Over 20 per cent of Czechs aged 18-30 at risk of poverty, Caritas says

One in five young adults in the Czech Republic is at risk of falling below the poverty line, according to the local branch of Caritas, an international Catholic relief and development charity. Some 300,000 people between the ages of 18 and 30 are essentially living from pay packet to pay packet, according to a survey conducted by the Median Agency released on Wednesday.

According to the Median Agency findings, 22 per cent of young adults are at risk. Women are at greater risk than men of both falling below the poverty line and remaining there for longer, the survey found. This is partly due to the gender pay gap, and partly because women are far more likely to be rearing children alone than are men. Broken down by gender, 18 per cent of men over the age of 25 are at risk compared to 27 per cent of women.

Prague rejects further student discounts on public transport passes

The Prague Municipal Council has rejected a proposed discount on public transport for students aged 15-26. The author of the proposal, Deputy Mayor Petr Dolínek, suggested students be offered annual passes for 365 crowns, roughly equivalent to 1.2 euros a month, to encourage them to use trams, buses and the metro more often.

Other city councillors argued that Prague could ill afford losing an estimated 300 million crowns in annual revenue. As a compromise, students will be allowed to pay for annual passes, which as of January will cost 1,200 crowns, in monthly instalments.

Weather forecast

It should be cloudy and relatively cool in the Czech Republic on Thursday, with daytime temperatures of up to 23 degrees Celsius. Friday is expected to be sunny and a bit warmer, but rain is expected on both Saturday and Sunday.