Czech news in brief for July 15: Wednesday's top morning headlines

This morning, safety and politics intersect as new footage complicates the picture in MP Filip Turek's Monday crash at the busy I. P. Pavlova intersection. Two Prague transit buses collided in the Kladno region, injuring a dozen. And two Czech men are behind bars in Croatia after keeping a bag stuffed with cash instead of turning it in. Good morning, here's your curated look at this morning's news.

Two Prague Integrated Transport buses crashed near the Lidice turnoff on the I/61 highway in the Kladno region before 7 a.m. Wednesday. Rescuers treated 12 people; one woman suffered moderately serious injuries and was airlifted to the Central Military Hospital in Prague, while the rest sustained lighter injuries. Police say one bus was traveling on the main highway while the other was pulling out from a side road; I/61 remains closed as investigators work the scene.

Getting people moving again: Firefighters say all passengers were out of both buses shortly after the crash, and replacement buses were dispatched for those who weren't hurt, though the investigation is expected to run into the afternoon.

A second video of MP Filip Turek's Monday collision with a hospital transport vehicle shows the traffic situation at the I. P. Pavlova intersection was messier than first understood; construction has scrambled the lane markings, and several other cars besides Turek's were also cutting through the same turn lane before continuing straight. Turek made his Green Deal envoy post available pending the police investigation.

Post-wreck sign change? A traffic safety expert says fault will likely be shared rather than resting solely with one driver, but notes that new signage appears to have been added to the intersection since the crash which raises its own questions.

Nine European countries, including the UK, France, and Germany, agreed Monday in Paris to form a joint air and ballistic missile defense coalition; Czechia and Poland are not among them. Opposition figures, including TOP 09's Jiří Pospíšil and ODS's Jan Lipavský, say the country is squandering both a security and industrial opportunity. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has instead floated a separate, broader EU-wide air defense project modeled on Airbus, which he's calling "Europatriot."

Not the same thing: Critics argue Babiš's Europatriot pitch is a proposal, not a commitment from other member states, but a rhetorical alternative to actually joining the coalition that already exists.

Croatian police arrested two 27-year-old Czech men suspected of embezzlement after they kept a Louis Vuitton bag containing more than EUR 45,000 in cash that they found on the ground in Mali Lošinj on Friday. A court in Rijeka ordered both held in custody, setting bail at EUR 3,200 each; the Czech Foreign Ministry says it's in contact with the men's families through the embassy in Zagreb.

Money's gone missing: Croatian police say roughly EUR 6,100 has disappeared from the bag since it was found, the men deny taking it.

The Chamber of Deputies gave first-round approval to a government bill ending the automatic annual increase in highway vignette prices tied to inflation and road-network growth. If it holds, the annual vignette stays at CZK 2,570, the month at CZK 480, the ten-day at CZK 300, and the one-day at CZK 230 for the foreseeable future, a change from the yearly creep in place since 2024.

The cost of the freeze: The State Transport Infrastructure Fund stands to lose roughly CZK 488 million next year and CZK 739 million the year after, which is why opposition parties are calling the move populist even as they let it pass.

A crack in a virus's armor Brno's CEITEC researchers have found that the tick-borne encephalitis virus has gaps in its protective surface coat, a discovery that helps explain why some antibodies can neutralize it, and one that may apply across the whole flavivirus family, including dengue and Zika.

Pořízková's Czech film debut "The Bardotky," a new comedy starring Dagmar Havlová, Eva Holubová, and former supermodel Pavlína Pořízková in her first Czech film role, opens in cinemas July 23. Director Hana Hendrychová calls it a film "by women, for women, about women."