Czech news in brief for June 22: Monday's top afternoon headlines

Good afternoon, while all sports eyes are set on the FIFA World Cup, it's been a beautiful weekend for Czech women's tennis. Linda Nosková entered the top 10 in world rankings after her victory in Berlin, and Marie Bouzková triumphed in Nottingham, moving up to 22nd place in the WTA table. It's the first grass title for both players. Just one week before Wimbledon, this is more than promising for Czech tennis.

Now to the main news driving the day.

The Czech government has decided not to include President Petr Pavel to the delegation heading to the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara, on July 7-8. The Czech delegation will instead be led by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, accompanied by Foreign Minister Petr Macinka and Defense Minister Jaromír Zůna. "I certainly don't want to have any conflict with the president," Babiš said after Monday's government meeting.

Long-running dispute. This is significant and is bound to further worsen the relations between the ruling coalition and President Pavel, who previously said he was considering filing a constitutional lawsuit if the government chose to sideline him.

The bigger question. A former NATO general himself, Pavel has attended every summit of the Alliance since taking office in 2023. "What is at stake here is not participation in one summit, but whether the powers entrusted to the president by the Constitution will be preserved or, on the contrary, whether the government will seek to limit them," Pavel said before Monday's decision.

The entire Brno main train station was evacuated earlier today after workers at a nearby construction site discovered what appeared to be an unexploded, World War II-era aerial bomb. All traffic was stopped for about two hours, hundreds of people were evacuated and police cordoned off the surrounding area until about 1 p.m., when the situation slowly returned to normal.

Almost 75 percent of Czechs are using AI tools at least on an occasional basis, according to a new survey by the Center for Public Opinion Research, including about 12 percent who use them several times a day. While many respondents believe in the benefits of AI technology in handling routine tasks, about a third of Czechs also believe the use of AI weakens critical thinking and a quarter of people are concerned with how it can facilitate the spread of disinformation.

Mixed feelings. Like many others, Czechs seem ambivalent about AI: a vast majority is both aware of its benefits and pushes for Czechia to support its development while at the same time warning that society isn't ready for its rapid spread, the survey shows.

Meanwhile, one percent of Czechs says they've never heard about the development of AI, according to the poll.

The Czech Ministry of Health, along with representatives of parents and school principals associations, have called for a ban on the sale of energy drinks for anyone under 16 years old, pointing to the multiple physical and mental health risks associated with the beverages.

Toxic mix. Insisting there is "simply no such thing as a safe amount of energy drinks for children," experts highlight that the current situation for instance allows 11-year-old children to buy drinks with caffeine levels equivalent to several espressos - not to mention the amount of sugar they contain.

This year's edition of the popular Colours of Ostrava festival - to be held from July 15-18 next month - will be the most expensive to organize in the event's history, its artistic director Filip Košťálek said in a wide-ranging interview with Seznam Zpravy.

Keeping it accessible. "Costs are rising across the board," he said, from labor and personnel to technology or band fees, insisting they're still trying to keep the price of festival tickets as affordable as possible. Right now, a four-day adult pass for the whole festival costs CZK 4,790 and two-day tickets are going for CZK 3,390.