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Nine Czech female singles players started this year’s Wimbledon tennis tournament, two of them in the world top 10. However, the only one left standing is a name few would have expected, Barbora Strýcová. The 33-year-old is now preparing to face Serena Williams in her first ever Grand Slam semi-final.

For the first time in history, Prague is hosting the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, an annual conference focused on environmental conservation, the impact of tourism and research cooperation on the White Continent. The event is attended by representatives of 29 countries, which are jointly tasked with taking care of Antarctica. I asked Pavel Kapler, manager of the Czech Johann Gregor Mendel Antarctic base, how come the Czech Republic is one of them.

A Czech design student has come up with a custom set of 180 emojis that depict various aspects of Czech life and humour. Within a week of being shared on social media, the designs, fittingly called “Czemoji”, have garnered much attention from the media as well as the wider public. She now plans on making them publicly available for use on digital platforms.

More than half of the Czech Republic has been hit by exceptional or extreme drought and the situation is likely to get even worse within the next few days. According to the project InterSucho, which is mapping the current state of drought in the Czech Republic, some 63 percent of the country’s territory is currently affected, including the whole of Bohemia and northeast Moravia.

The Czech guitar manufacturer Furch Guitars has been growing steadily since the Velvet Revolution and its instruments are played by many famous musicians. Now the company has announced that it plans a big expansion in the United States, specifically to Nashville, the city many call the country music capital of the world.

The 54th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival culminated at the weekend, with the Grand Prix going to Bulgarian film The Father. Meanwhile, actress Patricia Clarkson, who received the event’s lifetime achievement Crystal Globe, brought Hollywood glamour to the closing ceremony.

President Miloš Zeman has not made any final decision concerning the replacement of Culture Minister Antonín Staněk, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said after a meeting at Lány Chateau on Thursday. Mr Babiš and Deputy Prime Minister Jan Hamáček met with the head of state with the aim to resolve the dispute that could bring down the government.

A Czech delegation is headed to Baku, Azerbaijan on Monday to lobby for including parts of the Krušnohoří mining region on the UNESCO World Heritage Site listing. It has been sixteen years since the Czech Republic added a site to the list. So, what makes the region so special?

The European Parliament elected its leadership on Wednesday and two Czech MEPs – Dita Charanzová from the Liberals group and Marcel Kolaja from the Greens –were elected vice-president. I asked Libor Rouček, himself a former vice-president of the European Parliament, whether he considers this a significant success for a country the size of the Czech Republic.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has hailed the EU compromise on nominations for the bloc’s top jobs as a big success for the Visegrad Four grouping which fiercely opposed the system of Spitzen candidates and particularly the candidacy of Frans Timmermans for EC president. But, while the prime minister is cheering, there have been mixed reactions from Czech MEPs, some of whom have criticized the fact that the deal reached does not reflect the outcome of elections to the European Parliament.