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The last uranium mine in Central Europe, the Rožná 1 mine at Žďár nad Sázavou in the Vysočina region, has officially ceased operations. Much of the uranium extracted in its 60-year history ended up in the Soviet Union.

Construction works on a long-delayed Metro line are set to begin soon. A planned new north-south link of the Prague metro, the so-called D route, will be launched at Pankrác station, outside the Arkády shopping mall, the head of the Prague Transport Company Martin Gillár announced on Wednesday. This is where the tunnel boring machines will be brought under the ground.

Agriculture Minister Marian Jurečka has confirmed that the state-owned brewery Budějovický Budvar will be headed by Petr Dvořák, until now global brand director at rival Pilsner Urquell. Dvořák will take up the post on May 1. He replaces the former head, Jiří Boček, who ran the brewery since the early 1990s but stepped down earlier this year for health reasons.

The Supreme Audit Office has uncovered inaccuracies amounting to over CZK 100 billion in the accounts of the Ministry of Finance for 2015. Officials say that shortcomings in the ministry’s accounts could impact the state’s final account and financial statements – and that the ministry even mixed up billions and millions.

ANO leader Andrej Babiš, who is widely expected to be the country‘s next prime minister, has said he is opposed to the Czech Republic adopting the euro and is against any further integration with the EU. Speaking in a debate at Charles University, Finance Minister Babiš said he would happily support a multi-speed Europe within which EU members would be free to decide how fast and to what measure they wanted to proceed with EU integration.

The biggest digital laboratory in the Czech Republic has just opened its doors at the Jihomoravské inovační centrum (South Moravian Innovation Centre, JIC) in Brno. Entrepreneurs and members of the public can sign up to use 3D printers and other cutting-edge technologies at Fab Lab Brno.

Nearly 15 percent of Czechs switched to a different bank last year to avoid paying high fees, the daily Hospodářské noviny reported this week. According to a new survey carried out by STEM/MARK agency for one of the country’s smaller banks, Air Bank, every seventh client swapped their bank last year. The survey suggests that 85 percent of people choose their bank according to the fees it is charging.

Odometer fraud continues to be a major problem for buyers of second-hand cars in the Czech Republic. Past studies suggested that as many as 42 percent of vehicles sold, including imported cars, had seen their odometers tampered with. Findings suggested that cars with more than 100,000 kilometres travelled were often modified for a simple reason, to secure a better sale price.

The Czech Republic saw a record number of foreign tourists in 2016, with no fewer than 31.1 million entering the country. That number represented a rise of almost 12 percent on 2015. However, around three-fifths of visitors did not spend the night.

Under new legislation Czech entrepreneurs and firms suspected of not paying their taxes are liable to find their names on a tax authority blacklist. Those given the “unreliable person” label may find it harder to do business, iHned.cz reported.