ROB CAMERON

People in many areas of the Czech Republic have been advised by the fire brigade to keep their windows closed as they fight a big forest fire. Parts of the Bohemian Switzerland national park, which sits on the German border, have been burning since Sunday. Homes have been destroyed and the smell of smoke has reached the capital Prague 100km to the south.

Police in Slovakia have fined a car owner whose dog was caught on a speed camera sitting behind the wheel. The owner of the Skoda car insisted that his pet – a brown hunting dog – had suddenly leapt into his lap. It’s not clear if the fine – issued to the owner, rather than the dog – was for speeding, or for failing to secure the pet in a moving vehicle.

Czech MPs have approved an amendment tightening gun legislation, a month after the worst mass shooting in the country’s history. The amendment – which was proposed before the killings – must still pass through the Senate and be signed by the president, and will not come into force until 2026. It’s far from revolutionary, so would it even have made a difference?

A company has started offering whistle-stop tours of ostentatious villas, over-budget public construction projects and the echoey corridors of local government to highlight the problem of rampant corruption. “Corruption is not just money spent in the wrong way. Corruption is trust misused,” said Petr Sourek, founder of ‘Corrupt Tour’ – the world’s first corruption tour agency.

The murder of reporter Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová convulsed Slovak society. The wave of public anger and disgust led to the fall of Prime Minister Robert Fico and ultimately the election of liberal Zuzana Čaputová as president. There was also hope (short-lived) that Slovakia could untie the Gordian knot between high-level politics and endemic corruption.

Thousands have attended protest rallies across Slovakia in memory of murdered journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová, shot in a targeted killing a year ago. Kuciak had been investigating alleged corruption linked to Italian organised crime – a story which would, after his death, bring down the government. It remains unclear who ordered the killings.

Police in the Czech Republic are seeking information on a stolen racehorse allegedly belonging to Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov. Zazou, a thoroughbred worth some £17,000, disappeared between Friday evening and Saturday morning. The 16-year-old bay was reportedly one of two of Mr Kadyrov’s horses still stabled in the Czech Republic.