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After a long-term illness, director and actor Jan Řeřicha died aged 72 in Prague on Tuesday, the Czech News Agency reports. Mr. Řeřicha is perhaps most well known for being the director of Prague's annual international festival against totalitarianism Mene Tekel. As part of the project, Řeřicha directed the reconstructions of the 1950s communist show trials.

In 2002 he initiated and organised the Concert of Solidarity and Thanksgiving in New York’s Carnegie Hall in honour of the firefighters who died during the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

Temperatures are expected to reach up to 36 degrees Celsius in large parts of Bohemia on Thursday, while in Moravia they are will hover between 31-33 degrees. With the exception of occasional clouds in Silesia, there will be clear skies and only a light breeze across the whole country.

The weather is expected to remain largely the same until Sunday, when storms are should to break out.

Meteorologists have issued a high danger warning as temperatures in some regions in the Czech Republic are expected to reach 36 degrees. The warning will be active from the early morning hours until 9pm on Thursday. During the period, members of the public should focus on maintaining hydration and reduce physical activity.

Furthermore, it is advisable to wear headgear, sunglasses and skin protection, as the UV index will be very high during the afternoon.

Meteorologists also warn that children and pets should not be left in the open sun, particularly in parked cars.

In the first half of 2019 the Czech National Bank registered a 37 percent decrease in the number of forged banknotes and coins compared to the same period in 2018, Czech Television reports. Of the forgeries that were discovered, more than half were Czech banknotes, while more than a quarter were Euros.

Data from the end of 2018 shows that 2.4 billion banknotes and coins were in circulation in the country, a year on year increase of 5 percent. The value of circulated money rose from CZK 592 billion in 2017 to CZK 616 billion in 2018.

The Czech Republic will not lose access to the CZK 37 billion of EU performance reserves allocated for the 2014 –2020 programme period, Regional Development Ministry Spokesman Vilém Frček announced on Tuesday. Frček, whose ministry is responsible for drawing from the subsidies, says that the country fulfilled most of the targets set by the European Commission. This means that it will be able to draw from the so-called performance reserve, which makes up roughly 6 percent of the total funding allocated to the Czech Republic during the specified period.

The upper house of the Czech Parliament passed a resolution on Wednesday accusing the government of acting in contempt of the Senate. Specifically the vote was in reference to the unwillingness of certain ministries to supply senators with two preliminary audits sent by the European Commission earlier this year. These referred to a possible conflict of interest involving Prime Minister Andrej Babiš with regard to Agrofert, the company he founded before his entry into politics. Out of the 72 senators who were present, 57 voted in favour of the resolution.

Zdeněk Nytra, the head of the upper house commission tasked with assessing the audits, said that the attitudes of a number of ministries were in violation of Senate procedure rules. He also said that three of the four ministries had been unwilling to send representatives to the commission.

Nearly 500 Czech scouts are currently in the United States taking part in the international scout gathering known as the Jamboree, which is being attended by 40,000 people from all corners of the world. It is the largest contingent of Czech scouts ever to be sent to a Jamboree. The two-week event will see scouts competing in sports ranging from rafting, mountain biking, skating and shooting.

The motto of the Czech contingent this year is “Unbreakable”, referencing the fact that the scout movement survived repression by two totalitarian regimes during the 20th century.

Viktoria Plzeň drew 0:0 at home with Olympiakos of Greece in the first leg of a Champions League second qualifying round tie. The West Bohemians had more chances than the visitors but failed to convert them and hit the post at the end of the first half.

The second leg of that tie takes place in Greece next Tuesday. The winners of the tie will take on Turkish side Basaksehir in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. The losers will play Antwerp in the third qualifying round of the second-tier Europa League.

The Czech prime minister, Andrej Babiš, has congratulated Boris Johnson on becoming leader of the UK Conservatives and future PM, saying he wished Mr. Johnson “an energised approach on Brexit”. Speaking to journalists Mr. Babiš said a no-deal Brexit would certainly be a bad thing and that Mr. Johnson may change his rhetoric supporting no-deal after discussions with other EU leaders, including himself.

The Czech foreign minister, Tomáš Petříček, said the election of Mr. Johnson increased the likelihood of a no-deal Brexit. He said he expected Mr. Johnson to initiate talks with the EU very quickly.

The Czech government is aiming to spend significantly less when it holds the European Union presidency in 2022 than when it last did so in 2009, iRozhlas.cz reported.

A draft state budget that ministries had until Monday to comment on envisages expenditures of CZK 1.2 billion on hosting the six-month presidency. That is around a third the outlay a decade ago and is considerably less than other countries typically spend.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš says he is seeking to make savings in the areas of investment costs and personnel.

However, the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs could find that it has insufficient staff to handle the demands of hosting a large number of meetings, iRozhlas said.