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Czech driver Milan Kučera, who survived the disastrous collapse of a bridge in Italy’s Genoa, has been released from a local hospital there. He will be transported to Prague on Tuesday to undergo further medical examination.

The 46-year-old man, who works for the Prague-based haulage company SPED-IT, suffered several broken ribs, bruised lungs and a broken nose.

Forty-three people were killed after the elevated motorway collapsed, with some vehicles plunging up to 90 metres to the ground below. The incident happened last Tuesday.

Greenpeace activists have staged a protest outside a supermarket on Prague’s náměstí Republiky to protest against single-use plastic and excess plastic packaging. Similar events, dubbed “operation Plastic Attack”, were initiated in the United Kingdom and has since spread to other countries around the world.

Czech Greenpeace has also launched a campaign called Plast je Past, or Plastic Is a Trap, calling on supermarkets to put pressure on their suppliers to eradicate excess plastic packaging. The campaign has been joined by over 73,000 people so far.

Three separate fires broke out in a forest in the Pilsen region in the west of the country on Tuesday afternoon.

Twenty fire-fighter units have been called out to bring the blaze under control. The emergency services have also deployed a helicopter.

According to a spokesman for the fire service, Petr Poncar, a third-degree fire-alert is in place.

In tennis, Petra Kvitová has advanced to the second round of the WTA tournament in New Haven after defeating Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6:1, 7:6. She is set to face Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan in the next match.

Another Czech, Karolína Plíšková, was knocked out from the first round, losing to Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 1:6, 3:6 in less than an hour.

More than 90 percent of the area of the Czech Republic has been affected by drought, according to a report carried out by a scientific team within a project called InterSucho.

Over 72,000 square kilometres are currently affected by the drown-out period of dry weather and lack of rainfall.

According to climatologist Miroslav Trnka, a co-author of the study, there are between 40 and 80 millimetres of water lacking in the soil. The situation could only improve by a long-term, moderate rain.

Wednesday is expected to be mostly sunny, with scattered showers and storms. Daytime highs are expected to range between 29 and 33 degrees Celsius.

Scores of events are taking place around the Czech Republic on Tuesday to mark the 50th anniversary of the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet-led Warsaw Pact troops. Among the largest is a concert scheduled to take place on Prague’s Wenceslas Square in the evening. Performers will include Marta Kubišová, whose song A Prayer for Marta has become a symbol of resistance to the 1968 invasion.

Commemorations are also taking place in other towns and cities around the country, including Brno, Pilsen and Liberec.

The Czech Republic is marking the 50th anniversary of the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet-led Warsaw Pact troops. A traditional commemorative ceremony took place on Tuesday morning at the Czech Radio building on Prague’s Vinohradská Street, which witnessed some of the bloodiest clashes between civilian protesters and the occupying forces.

The ceremony was disrupted by hundreds of people who gathered outside the building to protest against the presence of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, whose speech was drowned out by chanting, whistling and jeers, most focused on him allegedly having been an agent of the Communist-era secret police.

Other participants included the speaker of the Czech Senate, Milan Štěch, chairman of the lower house, Radek Vondráček, and numerous witnesses of the 1968 events. Over 100 people were killed in the first week of the invasion. An estimated 500,000 soldiers invaded Czechoslovakia in the early hours of August 21, 1968 to quell the Prague Spring reform movement.

Prague City Hall has approved reduced public transport fares for students and seniors as of 1 September. Annual passes for those groups will be cut to 1,280 crowns a year if paid in a lump sum, about half the current amount. Alternatively, they can buy quarterly passes for 360 crowns or monthly ones for 130 crowns.

The move follows on the government’s aim to reduce the cost of travel on trams, buses and the metro for students under the age of 26 and residents over the age of 65 by 75 per cent.

In June, the Prague Municipal Council rejected a proposed discount on public transport for students aged 15-26 that would have allowed lowered the cost of annual passes to 365 crowns, roughly equivalent to 1.2 euros a month.

In support of Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, imprisoned for alleged terrorism in Russian-annexed Crimea, Czech filmmakers launched a chain hunger strike on Tuesday, the 100th day of Sentsov’s own such protest.

A vocal opponent of Russia's 2014 takeover of the Crimean Peninsula, Sentsov in May began serving a 20-year sentence handed down by Russia for conspiring to commit terrorist acts. Sentsov says the evidence against him was fabricated and is demanding that another 64 fellow Ukrainians who he considers political prisoners be released.

The Czech filmmakers will take turns fasting in a show of solidarity over the next five days. Among them are Václav Kadrnka, Zuzana Kříhová, Eva Papoušková, Radim Špaček and Roman Vávra.

Earlier in August, the Czech NGO People in Need launched a campaign calling for Sentsov's release, which included raising awareness of his cause by asking people to take a picture of themselves and add the hashtag 'Oleg in Need'.