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The centre-right ANO party of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, as expected, won the European Parliament elections.

ANO got 21.2% of the vote (6 seats), the Civic Democrats 14.5% (4 seats), the Pirates 13.95% (3 seats), the alliance between TOP 09 and Mayors and Independents 11.6% (3 seats), and the Christian Democrats 7.2% (2 seats).

The far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy got 9.1% (2 seats) and the largely unreformed Communists 6.9% (1 seat).

ANO's coalition partner, the left-leaning Social Democrats, failed to gain a mandate.

Competing for the 21 mandates were a record 40 parties and movements fielded in total 841 candidates in the Czech Republic. According to the Czech Statistical Office, turnout was 28.7 percent, up from 18.2 percent five years ago.

In the EU as a whole, turnout was above 50 percent, preliminary results show.

The Czech ice hockey team lost to arch-rivals Russia on Sunday night by a score of 3-2 in sudden death, missing out on a bronze in the IIHF World Championship in Bratislava.

Both the third period of regulation play and overtime period were scoreless. In the sudden death shootout, no Czech managed to score.

The Czechs scored two goals in the first period – Michal Řepík at 13:41 and Dominik Kubalík at 18:34. The Russians scored one goal in each of the first regulation periods – Mikhail Grigorenko at 13:00 and Artem Anisimov just 00:39 into the second period.

Canada and Finland are competing for the gold in a match later on Sunday night.

The Czech Republic won gold medals at the IIHF hockey Worlds in 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, and 2010. When part of Czechoslovakia, the team won another six gold medals.

The results of European Parliament election should be released at 11 p.m. local time on Sunday.

Votes from all 14,766 constituencies have already been counted, the Czech Statistical Office said. It will publish results after all polls close in other EU countries.

According to the Median agency, the ruling centre-right ANO party should win 22-25 percent of the vote and their junior partner in government, the centre-left Social Democrats, about 5-6 percent.

The opposition Pirates and the Civic Democrats are polling at about 14 percent each, the TOP 09 and Party of Mayors and Independents coalition up to 11 percent, the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy party 9-10 percent, the Christian Democrats 7-9 percent and the Communists at about 5-6 percent.

There has been a steady drop in the number of foster families, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs said on Sunday.

Last year only 146 families offered to care for a foster child – the fewest since 2015, when independent statistics began being compiled.

The ministry says a burdensome bureaucracy is partly to blame. Children are also stay longer with foster care families than planned, which could deter new prospects.

A work by Czech painter František Kupka, a pioneer of the abstraction movement and master of symbolism, sold at auction on Sunday for 78 million crowns.

The painting, entitled Plochy příčné II (Diagonal Surfaces II), had been in a private collection. The auction house catalogue had estimated the sale price at 40-60 million crowns.

Auctioneers say the painting is a pure example of geometric abstraction and among his most important works, a counterpart of which is in the Czech National Gallery collection in Prague.

The buyer's identity unknown. Kupka's paintings have been the most expensive to be auctioned in Prague for several years now.

The Prague Zoo on Sunday opened a new exhibition featuring one of the largest wolf spiders ever found in the Czech Republic, a member of largest species in Europe.

The new wolf spider at the Prague Zoo is about seven centimeters tall. Arachnologist Vladimír Hula, who discovered the female specimen in the Břeclav region, will be on hand to discuss its attributes.

Agile hunters, wolf spiders do not spin webs but rather pounce upon their prey or even chase it over short distances. Some lie in wait in burrows.

Khamoro, the World Roma Festival of music and culture, kicks off on Sunday evening with a free concert by the band Gipsy Suno in Prague’s Karlín district.

The annual week-long event is now celebrating its 21st year. Apart from a wide variety of traditional and modern Romany music, the programme features exhibitions, theatrical performances, a fashion show and public discussions.

Khamoro, which means sun in the Roma language, is the largest such festival in the world. It peaks on Saturday with a gala concert featuring Fanfare Ciocarlia (Romania), 3000 DeSCencias (Spain), Ivan Herák (Czechia), and Romengo (Hungary), among others.

Monday should partly cloudy or overcast but warm throughout the country. Occasional rain is likely everywhere expect in central and western Bohemia. Daytime highs should range between 22 to 25 degrees Celsius.

The Czech ice hockey team lost on Saturday night to Canada by a score of 5-1 in the IIHF World Championship semi-finals in Bratislava.

The Czechs outshot Canada 12-11 in each of the first two periods, and 41-30 in the game. Tomáš Zohorna scored the lone Czech goal, with 6:01 left to play in the third period.

Saturday marked the Czechs’ first time in the world championship semifinal since a 2-0 loss to Canada on home soil in Prague in 2015.

The Czechs next face Russia, which suffered a surprise loss to Finland, to compete for a bronze medal. That match begins on Sunday at 3:45 pm local time. The Canada-Finland match starts at 8:15 pm. The Czechs lost 3-0 in their group match against the Russians on 13 May.

Previously, the Czech Republic won gold medals at the IIHF hockey Worlds in 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, and 2010. When part of Czechoslovakia, the team won another six gold medals.

The Czech ice hockey team is gearing up to take on Canada in the IIHF World Championship semi-finals on Saturday night, in Bratislava. Faceoff is set for 19:15 local time.

Should the Czech team win, they will face Finland in a gold medal final.

If the Czech team loses to Canada, they will face Russia to compete for a bronze medal.

Previously, the Czech Republic won gold medals at the IIHF hockey Worlds in 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, and 2010. When part of Czechoslovakia, the team won another six gold medals.