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Unemployment in the Czech Republic rose in July after a steady fall since February of this year. Currently, unemployment stands at 5.4 percent – up from 5.2 in June. The rise, at least in part, is due to new graduates entering the labour market who have yet to secure work. In all, more than 392,000 people are out of work.

The sixth annual Prague Pride festival celebrating sexual minorities kicks off in the Czech capital on Monday with a concert on Střelecký Island. The week-long festival offers more than 130 events, including debates, film screenings and exhibitions, and will culminate with a colourful parade through the city centre on Saturday. I asked Prague Pride spokesperson Bohdana Rambousková about the main topic of this year’s festival and the events taking place.

The Olympic games start in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro on Friday with Czech hopes high that they can at least equal the medal tally from the last games in London four years ago. Many Czech hopes are focused on javelin thrower Barbora Špotáková and whether she can make it three Olympics golds in a row.

Germany is to pay compensation to remaining elderly victims of the Roma Holocaust who suffered during WWII in concentration camps such as Lety or the death camp Auschwitz. Each will receive a one-off payment of around 2,560 euros in the coming months. The agreement was reached with the help of the Czech Foreign Ministry and former special envoy on Holocaust issues, Jiří Šitler (now the Czech ambassador to Stockholm).

One of the Czech Republic’s best-known experts on Russia, journalist and commentator Ondřej Soukup, has been denied a visa extension by the Moscow authorities. The ban is evidently a tit-for-tat move after Prague denied two Russian reporters fresh accreditation earlier this year on the recommendation of the Czech intelligence service. I discussed the situation with Soukup, who writes for Hospodářské noviny.

President Miloš Zeman, the country’s most outspoken opponent of migration, has come under fire from EU commissioner Guenther Oettinger, for saying that the Czech Republic should close its doors to all migrants since they would “create fertile ground for barbaric attacks.” The criticism from Brussels has stirred fresh debate on the controversial migrant quotas, underscoring a growing rift on the issue in the government.

Sixty Chinese Christians have applied for asylum in the Czech Republic, according to Hospodářské noviny. The newspaper says that if their applications were approved it would amount to accusing Beijing of violating human rights. The move comes against a backdrop of closening ties between Prague and Beijing.

The government agency CzechTourism has long promoted the Czech Republic as a Land of Stories for foreign visitors but more and more Czechs themselves are choosing to vacation here rather than going abroad. By current estimates, this summer will see a million more Czechs spending their holidays in their own country.

The Czech Finance Ministry posted a state budget surplus of 75.6 billion crowns at the end of July, up from 41 billion the previous month. The surplus is 50 billion crowns higher than that registered in the same period last year and is the best result since the founding of the Czech Republic in 1993. The Finance Ministry says this reflects sound fiscal management and the effectiveness of measures introduced to fight tax evasion. I asked economist David Marek, from Deloitte & Touche, for his take on what’s behind the record surplus.

Tests for future taxi drivers in part of the Czech Republic including the capital could soon get a little harder, requiring more than geographical knowledge or how to operate a taximeter. Under an amendment being prepared by the Transport Ministry, individual municipalities could opt for stricter rules, for example, requiring taxi drivers to complete psychological and foreign-language tests.