Czech news in brief for June 1: Monday's top afternoon headlines

Czech police wrapped up Operation Korund today, seizing nearly 86,000 products and 155 kilograms of kratom after a month-long sweep targeting illegal sales of low-potency cannabis (CBD) and kratom. Authorities shut down three brick-and-mortar shops and blocked 25 online stores. Interior Minister Lubomír Metnar flagged vending machines and internet sales as the biggest risk vectors, particularly for minors. Criminal proceedings have been opened in 87 cases.

More to the story: The crackdown comes as the government moves fast on new legislation. Finance Minister Schillerová says a "lex kratom" bill, which would raise the legal purchase age from 18 to 21 and hike VAT from 12 to 21 percent, goes to lawmakers within days. Premier Babiš also announced that a broader adiktological law is in preparation.

The Czech state budget deficit jumped to CZK170.2 billion by end of May, up 64 billion in a single month, as spending restrictions from the budget interim period were lifted in April. Revenues are up 5.7 percent year-on-year, but expenditures are rising too, driven by social spending, health insurance payments, and higher EU contributions.

Good to know: The deficit is nearly identical to where it stood at the same point last year (170.5 billion); in addition, Finance Minister Schillerová's new Republic Bonds have already attracted over CZK 50 billion in orders since mid-May.

President Petr Pavel used today's ReVize Česka conference in Prague to make his clearest case yet for euro adoption, arguing the Czech Republic is sidelined from key EU economic decisions as long as it stays out of the eurozone. PM Babiš fired back the same day, calling the euro "another loss of sovereignty."

Context: The exchange lays bare a sharpening divide: Pavel's government has already quietly shelved the annual euro-readiness report, and with ANO, SPD, and the Motorists coalition firmly opposed, adoption isn't on the table, but the debate clearly isn't going away. Read more here.

Fishermen in the Faroe Islands killed 706 dolphins across three hunts last week in the traditional Grindradráp hunt, with Sea Shepherd calling the scale unprecedented; more than two-thirds of all marine mammals killed on the islands in all of last year. Czech volunteer Lukáš Matějíček and a colleague were detained by police after whalers accused them of interfering; both were released after paying a fine of roughly CZK 3,250.

Volunteer voice: Matějíček said boats and personnel were so scarce that dolphins were being crushed against rocks and struck by propellers. Sea Shepherd says the hunts descended into chaos, with whalers reportedly lacking the mandatory spinal-cord spears and resorting to knives alone, prolonging animal deaths.