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Mafia, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, or Machinarium – those are some of the internationally most successful Czech video games. The industry has been identified as a high growth sector by the Czech government and could receive state funding in the future similar to that which is granted to film makers.

Publishing houses in the Czech Republic are struggling with a shortage of paper and cardboard, which, in some cases, forces them to postpone the release of planned titles. As a result, there could be fewer books in stores at Christmas and the prices of books could increase in the future.

Dr Eva Lehečková, a prominent linguist at the Institute of Czech Language of the Academy of Sciences, has been named the next dean of Charles University’s philosophical faculty. She is replacing as dean a historian who refused to allow a billboard be erected with the image of Milada Horáková – who was executed 70 years ago after a show trial – and the text “Murdered by Communists”. In a wide-ranging interview with Czech Radio, Dr Lehečková addressed the controversy surrounding the outgoing dean, Michal Pullmann, and laid out her strategy to develop the faculty.

America’s “Second City” has a long Czech history. Once home to a lively community of immigrants from Bohemia and Moravia, the suburb of Cicero still has a school named after the first Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. Nearby “Cermak Road” honors the memory of Chicago mayor Anton Čermák who challenged the all-powerful mafia in the 1930s. Nevertheless, the struggle to keep the Czech language and traditions alive in the ever-diversifying city is not easy. Vít Pohanka spoke to Klára Moldová, a woman who is trying to do just that.

A new kind of lab test could make the detection of coronavirus antibodies faster and cheaper, according to scientists from the Czech Academy of Sciences who are behind its development. A license agreement for its industrial production has already been signed and the test is expected to hit the market later in September. There are also hopes that it could help determine who is in need of a third vaccine dose.

A new organization, dedicated to the development of renewable energy sources, will start operating in Prague in October. One of the main goals of the Prague Renewable Energy Community, which was approved by city councillors this May, will be installing photovoltaic panels on the city’s buildings.

Novelist, essayist and playwright Jiří Kratochvil is one of the most respected Czech contemporary writers.  Over his career, spanning more than 50 years, he has published dozens of novels and short story collection, which have been translated into a number of foreign languages including German, Spanish, French, Italian, Bulgarian and Hungarian. Jiří Kratochvil is the recipient of many domestic literary awards including the Magnesia Litera Award, Tom Stoppard Prize and the Jaroslav Seifert Award.

Ash trees across the Czech Republic have been dying in recent years as a result of a disease known as Ash dieback, caused by a fungus imported from Asia. Experts say there is no effective defence against its spread and warn of other invasive diseases that are threatening the country’s deciduous trees.

EU finance ministers on Monday gave their final approval to the Czech National Recovery Plan, opening the way for the country to receive the first instalment of a 180 billion crown aid package from the EU’s Resilience and Recovery Fund. However, the EC made it very clear that in order to get the money for which it is eligible the Czech Republic would have to address conflict of interest issues involving high-ranking politicians.

Despite COVID-19 vaccination rates falling over the past several weeks in the Czech Republic, the country’s Health Ministry has raised its vaccination target from the original 70 to 75 percent. A new campaign is now being rolled out by the ministry which includes the promise that the wearing of face masks will end once three-quarters of the adult population are fully inoculated. Currently, the overall vaccination rate among the adult population lies at 66 percent.