Czech news in brief for July 23: Thursday's top afternoon headlines

Good afternoon, the main news this afternoon is a tragic, yet unexplained accident at a Czech air force base that killed one soldier and injured several others. We go international with other top headlines as the Prime Minister travels to Serbia and new Czech ambassadors take their post around the world. Finally, we also talk about a booming art market and sneaky raccoons.

One Czech soldier died and four others were injured after a Venom helicopter crashed at an air force base in Náměšť nad Oslavou. The army said they would not release any information about the identity of the deceased soldier out of respect for the family, and grounded all its U.S.-made Venom and Viper helicopters pending a full investigation into the accident.

Few details. Little is known for now about what happened when the helicopter carrying five people crashed in the airport area shortly after noon. The helicopter in question was purchased by the Czech Republic in 2019, and American experts later helped train Czech military personnel on how to operate them.

Foreign Minister Petr Macinka (Motorists) confirmed that the new Czech ambassadors to the United States, Italy, the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will soon take up their posts. More leadership changes are expected in over a dozen other embassies, including in Finland, Portugal, India, Vietnam and Egypt.

Long-running dispute. The new ambassadorial posts are part of changes introduced in 16 Czech embassies around the world by the former government of Petr Fiala. The new cabinet led by Andrej Babiš later overturned some of those nominations, leading to months-long back-and-forth negotiations with President Petr Pavel.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš is on an official visit to Serbia and met today with counterpart Đuro Macut and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučič. The PM is accompanied by deputy-Prime Minister and Trade and Industry Minister Karel Havlíček and a whole troupe of Czech business representatives, with bilateral trade and investments top of the visit's agenda.

The Schengen question. "I don't understand at all why Serbia is not in Schengen," Babiš said after meeting with Vučič, repeating Czechia's support for Serbia - formally an EU candidate since 2012 - to join the border-free area.

The art market in the Czech Republic is in the midst of a revival, experts told Novinky.cz as the total value of artworks sold in the first half of 2026 increased by over CZK 200 million. The number of works that were auctioned off for more than CZK 1 million also surged significantly, with sales of post-war art among the most popular segments. At 59 percent, the share of auctioned artworks that ended up being sold also reached an all-time high.

Most expensive paintings. For now, this year's most expensive painting was Drinker by Josef Čapek, sold for over CZK 34 million. This is still a bargain compared to the two domestic record-holders: Conception / Danae by František Kupka (CZK 126.5 million) and Old Prague Motif by Bohumil Kubišta (CZK 123.6 million).

Local nature preservation officials have confirmed the presence of an invasive northern raccoon in the Soutok Protected Landscape Area, in the Břeclav region. Known for its high intelligence, ingenuity and adaptability, this specific raccoon species originates from North America, and is considered a big threat to local biodiversity, birds nests as well as protected amphibians and mollusks.

Big appetite. "It eats everything it can find," sums up a report by conservationists cited by CTK, where they admit that efforts to regulate their numbers have so far largely been unsuccessful across Europe.