Czech news in brief for March 31: Tuesday's top afternoon headlines

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš met with his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico today at the Nová Horka castle, south-west of Ostrava, to renew intergovernmental talks and deepen bilateral cooperation. Regular high-level meetings between the Czech and Slovak cabinets were cancelled by the former government of Petr Fiala in 2024 due to key policy differences, including on Russia and the war in Ukraine.

Czech police announced on X that a foreigner had confessed to throwing Molotov cocktails against the building of the Russian Center for Science and Culture (RSVK) in Dejvice last Friday, and was now detained. The man, who turned himself in, said he had been planning the attack since last summer. His motives are still unclear, but the so-called Russian House has long faced virulent criticism for being a hub to spread Russian propaganda and misinformation.

Less than 78,000 children were born in the Czech Republic in 2025, according to the Czech statistical office (CZSO), the lowest number since data started being recorded more than 250 years ago. Despite a negative natural balance (more deaths than live births), Czechia's overall population increased by about 6,000 due to a positive migration balance (more immigrants than emigrants), reaching a little more than 10.9 million at the end of last year.

Czech teenagers are starting having sex at an older age than previous generations, a team from Masaryk University in Brno found as part of a long-running international study. About 16 percent of 15-year-olds in the Czech Republic have already had a sexual experience, according to the survey, the lowest share in 20 years. Meanwhile, the share of teenagers using a condom during sex has also dropped significantly from 70 percent in 2014 to about 58 percent in 2022.

Originally supposed to end on Tuesday, June 30, the school year for primary and secondary students will conclude a few days earlier, on Friday, June 26, Education Minister Robert Plaga (ANO) announced today, citing "organizational and operational needs" of schools. According to figures from the ministry, this concerns more than 1.5 million pupils across the Czech Republic.