Czech news in brief for May 19: Tuesday's top morning headlines

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar will arrive in the Czech Republic today, with his main agenda scheduled for Wednesday. Minister Saar will meet with Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka and President Petr Pavel, and participate in a Czech-Israeli business forum alongside a delegation of dozens of Israeli companies. The ministers will discuss creating a joint commission for trade, healthcare, and cybersecurity cooperation, as well as current Middle East crises.

Andrej Babis’s government approved a draft amendment on Monday to enforce balanced gender representation in large corporate leadership, sending it to parliament. The bill transposes EU rules requiring companies with over 250 employees to have at least 40 percent women on supervisory boards or 33 percent across all boards. The cabinet seeks a fast-track passage, as Czechia missed the December 2024 deadline and faces infringement proceedings and a minimum three-million-euro fine.

Poland will extradite three Polish citizens within a few weeks to the Czech Republic for prosecution over an arson attack at the LPP Holding arms factory in Pardubice, Czech police spokesman David Schon announced today. The March 20 fire caused hundreds of millions of crowns in damage. The suspects are accused of aiding and orchestrating the incident, which police are investigating as a terrorist attack. Ten people have been detained in total.

 Ticks in Czech cities are up to twice as infected as those in forest locations, according to the National Institute of Public Health. Over three years, scientists analyzed more than 12,000 ticks, finding 44 percent carried bacteria and a quarter carried Lyme disease. On Monday, experts collected 1,000 ticks in Prague's Kunratický forest. Meteorologists currently warn of extreme tick activity driven by high humidity and warm temperatures.

Strawberry grower Stanislav Štrympl announced on Monday that the harvest in Svadov, Ústí nad Labem, was damaged by late April frosts, freezing up to 50 percent of outdoor areas. Rising packaging, labor, and fertilizer costs have increased production expenses, leading to higher prices. Despite a labor shortage, harvesting began in early May under foil greenhouses, with field sales starting in June. Demand currently exceeds local supply.

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