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Some 100 tonnes of dead fish have been removed do far from a pond in the Břeclav region in south Moravia. The carp and silverfish died last week due to a low level of water, which led to a low concentration of oxygen. According to the administrator of the fish pond, Oldřich Pecha, the losses will exceed five million crowns. Nesyt, with water surface of about 300 hectares, is the largest pond in Moravia and one of the largest in the Czech Republic.

The drown-out period of hot and dry weather in the Czech Republic is posing a serious danger to aquatic species. Water levels in rivers around the country have fallen and the situation is particularly acute in fish ponds, minor rivers and streams.

Sergeant Martin Marcin, one of the three soldiers killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan on August 5, was buried on Tuesday. A flyover of Czech Army planes took place ahead of the funeral service, which was held in Sergeant Marcin’s hometown of Chomutov. Army chief of staff Aleš Opata and Defence Minister Lubomír Metnar were among those in attendance, while around 300 people gathered outside.

The three Czech servicemen were killed by a suicide bomber while patrolling an area near Bagram Base, the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan. The other two soldiers, Kamil Beneš and Patrik Štěpánek, will be buried later this week.

The forest fire that broke out high up on Ještěd Mountain in the north of the country has been brought under control. Twelve firefighter units were called to the blaze, which threatened to spread due to strong wind. The emergency services have also employed a helicopter to contain the fire.

The incidence of fires rose sharply over the past weeks to the drown-out period of drought. In July, fire crews were called to 2,700 fires, which is the highest number in 12 years.

Czech humanitarian organisation People in Need has launched a campaign to release the Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov from Russian prison. Photos are to be shared on Instagram with a call for the release of the filmmaker. People in Need will then print them and send them to the prison where Sentsov is jailed.

Oleg Sentsov, who is 39, was arrested in 2014 during a protest against Russia's annexation of Crimea. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail by a Russian military court in 2015 on charges of terrorism.

The filmmaker has been on hunger strike since May 14, saying he will stop only if all Ukrainian political prisoners held on the Russian territory are released. Politicians and other public figures all over the world have been campaigning for his release.

Josef Vojáček has been appointed head of the state-owned forestry company Lesy České republiky. Agriculture Minister Miroslav Toman announced the news at a press conference on Monday. The former head of Military Forests and Farms was selected out of 11 candidates who took part in an open competition.

Mr Vojáček will replace Daniel Szórád in the post, who was sacked in May over his inability to deal with the calamitous impact of bark beetle infestation which has plagued Czech forests since 2016.

The Czech Republic’s biggest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal Ostrava, has posted a profit of 3.2 billion crowns in 2017. It is an increase by 1.9 billion crowns on the previous year.

The results were mostly affected by higher financial yields due to the sale of share in daughter companies, the company’s spokeswoman Barbora Černá Dvořáková told the Czech News Agency on Monday.

ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, is looking to sell its Czech unit and some other assets by the end of the year in order to win EU antitrust clearance to acquire a troubled Italian peer Ilva.

Tuesday is expected to be mostly overcast with scattered showers and daytime highs ranging between 23 and 27 degrees Celsius.

For China, the Czech courtship was an unqualified victory, the U.S. daily New York Times wrote on Sunday. The article, which focuses on the change in Czech-Chinese relationships during Mr Zeman’s presidency, says “China had won a sure friend in Europe, an American military ally and a country once seen as a bulwark for liberal democracy in a strategically important region.”

The article says “Mr. Zeman, a well-known smoker and drinker, has rejected Havel-era support for the Dalai Lama and its close ties to the government of Taiwan,” and points out that Mr. Zeman was the first Czech leader to visit China in nearly a decade in 2014.

The past weekend has proved to be the most tragic on Czech roads since the beginning of summer holidays, with thirteen people killed in traffic accidents in the space of 48 hours.

Among the victims were six motorcycle drivers, three cyclists and one pedestrian, the head of the traffic police Tomáš Lerch told the Czech News Agency on Monday. The road death toll traditionally worsens during summer holidays. Police ascribe it to the heat, which causes tiredness and a lack of concentration.

A 33-year-old Czech paraglider has sustained serious injuries after falling from a height of around twenty metres. The incident occurred in southern Austria on Sunday afternoon. The man was airlifted to a hospital in Klagenfurt to undergo treatment.