Czech news in brief for July 27: Monday's top morning headlines

The second heat wave of the year arrives this week. A departing cold front brings scattered showers and a cooldown through Monday, but a high-pressure system moving in from the southwest will pull hot, dry air up from North Africa starting Tuesday. Highs climb into the high 20s and low 30s Celsius by midweek, with 37°C expected Thursday and 40°C not ruled out by Friday, according to the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute.

No tropical-night relief: Overnight lows are forecast to stay above 20°C for much of the week, meaning little cooldown between the hot afternoons; some areas will see full tropical nights by Thursday.

Prague's Control Committee will hold an emergency meeting on Monday, called by newly elected chairman Jan Hušbauer (ANO) after a July 21 police raid at Škoda Palace led to charges against six people and two legal entities for abuse of power, bribery, and money laundering. Hušbauer called the raid and prosecutions an extremely serious matter, saying the city cannot simply stand by. The charges carry standard sentences of four to five years, but qualified cases could bring 10 to 12 years.

Political finger-pointing: ANO and Pirates councilors have traded blame over which department oversaw the transport official at the center of the case, with an independent audit due by Sept. 30, ahead of the fall municipal elections.

Some Czech rivers are flowing at just 10 to 40 percent of their normal July levels, with the Lužnice, upper Vltava, and Otava basins hit hardest. The inflow to the Orlík reservoir is the lowest recorded since 1982, according to hydrologist Martin Pecha of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute.

Boating season postponed: Popular boating rivers like the upper Sázava, upper Vltava, and Otava are already near the limit of navigability a full month early; boaters are being urged to check water levels before setting out.

The Babiš government is set to approve a bill allowing car owners to transfer vehicle registration without an in-person office visit, using drop boxes for plates and registration certificates instead. The same cabinet meeting will also consider allowing "peer workers" with lived experience of addiction or mental illness to take public-sector support roles.

Last meeting before recess: This is the cabinet's final session before its August break; ministers return Aug. 17.

Tram line 5 will begin running through Holešovice in September, giving the district back a direct connection to the center that it lost when line 14 was cancelled after the Dvorecký Bridge opened. Two trains will run the route, taking over from the temporary line 34, with service passing the market and crossing Vltavská toward Wenceslas Square.

Stopgap ahead? The arrangement is confirmed only through December 2026. What happens after depends on whether incoming councils in Prague 3 and Prague 7 can agree on a longer-term solution; Prague 3 would need to accept some restrictions on its own tram service to keep Holešovice's connection intact.

In memoriam. Czech physical chemist Pavel Jungwirth, known for his work on molecular simulations of ions at water interfaces, has died at 60. He received the Neuron Foundation's top science award last year and led the Learned Society from 2020 to 2022.

Skywatchers, mark the calendar. On Aug. 12, Czechia gets a rare double bill: a significant partial solar eclipse around sunset, followed by peak Perseid meteor activity overnight into Aug. 13, astronomer Petr Horálek said. With the moon freshly new, conditions for both events will be about as dark and clear as they get, a pairing that won't recur until 2045 and that time only in the US.

Street art (nouveau).Prague streetwear brand Never Enough has launched a collection built around Alfons Mucha's Art Nouveau motifs, made in partnership with the Mucha Foundation. His great-grandson Marcus Mucha says the artist never saw art as separate from daily life.