Czech news in brief for July 3: Friday's top morning headlines

Good morning, here is the morning's mix of top stories, as we head into a long weekend. ICYMI we've got a nice round-up of tips for scenic journeys to even more scenic spots across the country, provided by a Czech transport expert and journalist. Most of these destinations can be reached in under for hours, perfect for last-minute travel. We're also putting the finishing touches on a story about the upcoming story closers and transport disruption across the holidays. Watch for that this afternoon.

But first, this was a big week for celeb-spotting in Czechia both in Prague where Kristen Bell rescued a hedgehog and Keanu Reeves had a beer with the president and Karlovy Vary where the first luminaries of the season landed in the landmark spa town for the most important date in Central Europe's film calendar. Happy Friday!

President Petr Pavel has told Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) to produce concrete evidence for his claim that Pavel interprets the constitution however he pleases, or retract it, according to a statement the Castle provided to ČTK. The demand follows a Deník.cz interview in which Babiš argued Pavel would damage Czechia's standing abroad by attending the NATO summit in Ankara. Pavel pushed back directly, asking whether pursuing citizens' safety, alliance commitments, and real combat readiness for the army amounted to harm.

A lengthy duel: The clash is the latest turn in a months-long dispute over Pavel's place in the Ankara delegation – the government initially left him off it, prompting a jurisdictional lawsuit that led the Constitutional Court to order his inclusion by preliminary injunction. Babiš will still lead the delegation, with Pavel attending as a member alongside a four-person entourage, even though Pavel maintains protocol rules should put the president at its head.

Dustin Hoffman landed in Karlovy Vary on Thursday evening, greeted by a small crowd of autograph seekers at the airport before being driven into the city center under festival security. The 88-year-old two-time Oscar winner will receive the Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at Saturday's opening ceremony, then present a screening of The Graduate, the 1967 film that launched his career. Jesse Eisenberg and Harvey Keitel arrived alongside him and will also be honored Saturday; Eisenberg presenting The Double, Keitel introducing Scorsese's Mean Streets.

Behind-the-scenes: Hoffman specifically requested the Graduate screening himself; festival director Karel Och said none of this year's audience will have seen the film introduced by Hoffman in person before. Keitel, meanwhile, is making his third Vary appearance, having first won the Crystal Globe there in 2004 and returned in 2015 to present Youth.

The EU unemployment rate held at 5.9 percent in May, with the April figure revised down from an initial six percent, according to Eurostat data published Thursday. Czechia's rate fell to 2.9 percent from 3.1 percent in April, tying it with Bulgaria for the lowest in the 27-member bloc. Finland posted the EU's highest rate at 10.6 percent, followed by Spain at 10.3 percent and Sweden at 8.7 percent.

Worth noting: The strength extends to younger workers too. Youth unemployment in Czechia fell to 8.4 percent from 9.6 percent in April, the lowest among the Visegrád Four countries, and far below Slovakia's 17.4 percent.

Eighty-two people died on Czech railways in the first six months of 2026, 30 fewer than the same period last year, according to Railway Inspectorate data released Thursday. Most deaths involved collisions between trains and people, while incidents at level crossings dropped to 54 from 75 a year earlier. Overall, extraordinary events on the railway, incidents threatening or disrupting the safety of traffic, people, infrastructure or the environment, fell to 477 in the first half of the year from 543 over the same period last year.

Red flag: The safer overall picture sits alongside a rougher one for driver conduct. Train drivers ran through prohibited signals 100 times this year, nine more than last year, including a Saturday incident in the Karlovy Vary region that forced firefighters to evacuate 30 passengers onto another train.

Tram service between Lazarská and Újezd will be fully suspended from July 18 to August 10 as Prague Public Transit Company (DPP) rebuilds the track bed through Národní třída and the Lazarská junction, citing safety-critical wear. Spálená Street stays open except for the stretch between Národní třída and Purkyňova Street, and existing one-way traffic and parking restrictions remain in place along the corridor.

More to the story: This is just one of the major transits disruptions scheduled for this month in the Czech capita; read an overview here.

A view worth arguing over. Roughly twenty black traction poles now cut across views of the National Museum from lower Wenceslas Square, and Prague 1's mayor wants them redesigned before the tram line's overhead wiring goes in next spring. The transit company isn't confirming any changes and says surface work on the square continues through the rest of the year. See photo here.

Tourist tragedy. A 22-year-old British tourist has fractured her spine after falling off a bar stool during her first night in Prague, requiring surgery to place rods and screws in her back. Her travel insurer initially balked at covering the medical flight home before reversing course.

Bukovka's biggest Boca fan. A music promoter in the village of Bukovka has turned his house into a shrine to Argentine football, complete with a Maradona statue, a Messi mural, and a son named Lionel. He's backing La Albiceleste as they face Cape Verde July 3.