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The Czech Republic has just seen its hottest day so far this year, with temperatures reaching highs of 37 degrees Celsius in places on Tuesday, and the current heatwave shows no signs of abating. As temperatures soar to mid-30s around the country, the scorching heat continues to affect the lives of individuals as well as business operations.

The saga surrounding the legal case of the bankrupt H-system housing project, which cost over a thousand clients millions of crowns, continues to resonate throughout the country. Many are pointing at the shortcomings of the judicial system and asking the question whether the state should intervene. On Tuesday, the head of the Supreme Court suggested the state should step into the case and compensate the damaged clients.

After the countrywide shock surrounding the gruesome details of a police crackdown on an illegal tiger trade den and the escapes of four feline predators from zoo parks in the country, the Ministry of Agriculture announced a joint effort with the Ministry for the Environment, which aims to propose tougher legislation regarding the ownership and exhibiting of wild animals.

The government in January agreed to double the number of Ukrainians it would allow in as fast-track migrant workers to nearly 20,000 per year, in a bid to help address the chronic labour shortage, which has companies in the export-driven economy struggling to fill orders. According to Czech Chamber of Commerce, the fast-track scheme is a drop in the proverbial bucket – but still paying dividends.

The sixth-annual Czech Ukulele Festival took place this past weekend at Únětice Brewery, bringing musicians and amateurs from across the world to the outskirts of Prague. I dropped in for the second day of the festivities and spoke to some of the performers.

As part of this year’s celebrations of the centenary of modern Czech statehood, Czech president Miloš Zeman and his Slovak counterpart Andrej Kiska undertook a joint ride on a historical train to mark the anniversary of the declaration of independent Czechoslovakia and also to commemorate its first head of the state Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk.

The 44th annual Summer Film School and festival in Uherské Hradiště gets underway on Friday. Over the coming week, it will screen 202 films – including retrospectives of Lars von Trier and special guest Mike Leigh, who will also introduce three films that inspired him most – including the late great Miloš Forman’s classic Loves of a Blonde.

A divisive ban on cycling in areas of downtown Prague has been overturned following a legal challenge from an activist group. Cyclists will now be able to return to pedestrian zones such as Old Town Square. However, local politicians continue to argue that bikes don’t belong in the historical city centre.

Czech aerobatic pilot Roman Kramařík is celebrating the centenary of the birth of Czechoslovakia by fulfilling a lifelong dream –to fly around the world in a small Cesna plane. The journey should take him 46 days across three oceans and three continents.

One hundred years ago this October, just before the end of World War I, Czechoslovakia declared independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. While these are basic historical facts you might expect every schoolchild to know, a newly released poll shows that almost 1 in 5 adults cannot name an event from 1918 – and even fewer knew the basic history of more recent decades.