Daily news summary

Most areas of country set for storms on Sunday

Most areas of the Czech Republic will be hit by storms on Sunday, the Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute has warned. Some of the storms will be heavy, with hailstones and gales expected. Flash floods may occur in some areas. The storm warning applies for Bohemia from 10AM to 8PM on Sunday and for Moravia from 1PM to 11PM.

Černohorský elected leader of Pirate Party

Lukáš Černohorský has been elected chairman of the Czech Pirate Party at a congress in Prague. Mr. Černohorský has to date been the head of the political party in the Moravian Silesian Region. He replaces Ivan Bartoš, who stood down in June after the Pirate Party did poorly in elections to the European Parliament the previous month. The grouping, which champions the free sharing of information and internet privacy, has no seats in either chamber of the Czech Parliament.

Fresh charges filed against former Prague hospital chiefs under investigation for corruption

Fresh charges have been filed against the former director of Prague’s Na Homolce hospital, Vladimír Dbalý, and his onetime deputy, Michal Toběrný, Lidovy noviny reported on Saturday. The two, who were already under investigation for manipulating a CZK 57 million digital medical records tender, have now been charged with demanding a kickback in connection with the CZK 140 million purchase of a Leksell Gamma Knife in 2009. Some estimates put the amount paid at around a third more than the normal price in other countries, Lidovy noviny said.

Man turns in cannon under weapons amnesty

A man in Ostrava has turned in part of an anti-tank cannon under a general amnesty on illegally held weapons. The man brought the upper part of the Czechoslovak produced weapon, which weighs more than 250kg, to the Ostrava police’s weapons and dangerous materials department, a spokesperson for the force said on Saturday.

August expected to be hot but not very

August should be hot in the Czech Republic, though temperatures are not expected to exceed 29 degrees Celsius, according to a four-week forecast released on Saturday by the Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute. Precipitation levels should be average, but local differences in rainfall will be marked due to the likelihood of storms. The first week of the month should be the warmest and the last week the coolest, the forecasters said.

Amateur theatre festival held for 84th time

The 84th edition of the Jiráskův Hronov amateur theatre festival got underway in the North-eastern Bohemia town of Hronov on Saturday. Said to be one of the world’s oldest theatre festivals, it will feature 41 productions of various kinds, from experimental theatre to puppet shows, and over 100 performances between now and next Saturday. It is named after the locally born novelist Alois Jirásek, who was nominated four times for the Nobel Prize for Literature before his death in 1930.

Javelin thrower Veselý should recover from injury before European Championships, says manager

The javelin thrower Vítězslav Veselý is not taking part in this weekend’s national championships in Ostrava due to injury but should be fit in time for the European Athletics Championships in Zurich in just under two weeks’ time, his manager said on Saturday. Veselý, who is 31 and is trained by javelin legend Jan Železný, took gold at the 2012 European Championships.