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The Czech Interior Ministry has announced a public tender for the development of an anti-drone (or drone-killer) system capable of taking out anonymous drones invading no-fly zones or other restricted areas. The deal, website Ekonomický deník reported, is worth 58 million crowns. To date, the Czech police reportedly do not have a comprehensive system capable of sending rogue drones to the ground.

Some 60 Roma children from socially excluded localities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, along with members of the Czech Philharmonic, are taking part in the ‘Romano Drom’ music and dance workshop in North Bohemia. The aim of the summer school, organised annually by musician and choir mistress Ida Kelarová, is to support children and youth at risk of social exclusion. The two-week school will culminate with a series of performances, starting on Tuesday night in Nový Bor.

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.