Czech news in brief for July 14: Tuesday's top morning headlines

Police began evacuating Prague's Main Railway Station shortly before 8 a.m. today after receiving an anonymous threat to plant an explosive device, halting all train traffic at the country's busiest transit hub during the Tuesday morning commute. Metro Line C trains started bypassing the Main Station stop just before 7:45 a.m., and all train operations were officially suspended by 8:20 a.m. A bomb disposal specialist was dispatched to the scene, and police say the search is ongoing with no timeline yet for reopening.

Not the first time: Similar threats closed the station in 2016, 2019, and 2021, and police tracked down the culprits within days each time. Check ČD and DPP for live updates before heading to the station.

Foreign Minister Petr Macinka wraps up a two-day Israel visit today, opening a Czech-Israeli business forum with counterpart Gideon Saar. The accompanying business delegation is roughly a third arms manufacturers, including Česká zbrojovka, STV Group, and Excalibur Army, alongside Škoda Auto and 3D-printer maker Prusa Research; the ministers are expected to sign a joint statement, with several company-level deals also in the works.

Bigger picture: Macinka and Saar held their first such forum in Prague in May, when the Israeli minister's visit drew a Palestinian-flag protest outside Černín Palace, a reminder that closer economic ties haven't erased political friction over the relationship.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office has opened criminal proceedings over subsidy payments to Agrofert, responding to a Pirates' criminal complaint alleging a conflict of interest involving Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. Investigators are looking at officials who enabled the payments and why the Czech Republic hasn't recovered past subsidies from the holding. Babiš placed his Agrofert shares in a trust fund in February and considers the matter resolved.

Money already moving: The State Agricultural Intervention Fund resumed paying out subsidies to Agrofert companies in late April, and the EU reimbursed CZK 204 million of that in May, even as the probe into the underlying conflict-of-interest question gets underway.

The European Commission has provisionally approved another CZK 25 billion for the Czech Republic under its National Recovery Plan, the sixth such payment, after the country met 90 percent of its reform milestones so far. The money still needs sign-off from the EU Council's Economic and Financial Committee, and the government plans to submit its final payment request this fall.

Where it's going: Funds are earmarked mainly for digital transformation, healthcare, energy savings, and infrastructure.

Strong, slow-moving thunderstorms are forming across large parts of the country today, with the greatest risk of severe storms and possible supercells in the northern halves of Bohemia and Moravia. Because the storm cores are moving eastward so slowly, some areas could see up to 50mm of rain, hail over 2cm, and a real risk of local flash flooding.

Plan ahead: More strong storms, including damaging wind and hail, are expected on Wednesday too, mainly in Moravia and Silesia; ČHMÚ is expected to issue a formal warning later today.

It takes a festival village. Colours of Ostrava opens Wednesday in Dolní Vítkovice with some 5,000 staff running what organizers call a "city that never sleeps," ahead of headline sets from Twenty One Pilots, Moby, and Lorde.

Czech teens triumph. A team of five Czech high schoolers won gold at the Young Physicists Tournament in Zurich, topping teams from 35 countries for the Czech Republic's best result since 1998. The students spent a year building their own experiments and defending their findings against rival teams before a panel of experts.

Chat Control moves ahead. Czech Republic supported the EU Council's move to extend Chat Control 1.0, the voluntary system allowing internet providers to scan unencrypted chats for child sexual abuse material, after the European Parliament initially let the exemption lapse in April.