Homelessness is on the rise globally, and the Czech Republic has the highest rate in central and eastern Europe. The Guardian visited Prague, for a long time a popular destination for tourists, to see how even this sector caters for the city’s visitors - and to meet the range of people aiming to tackle the causes of homelessness in all its forms ..read more

Health, jobs, defence, security and climate crisis all seen as more important than immigration with June elections approaching Irregular migration is not the top priority for European voters despite the prominence of the issue in the media and political campaigning by rightwing parties over the last year, a survey commissioned by the European parliament shows. The Eurobarometer poll, which tracks public opinions every quarter, puts poverty and the cost of living crisis and social exclusion as the number one issue for voters who go to the polls in early June to elect a new European parliament ..read more

Belgian PM says Russia is trying to influence forthcoming elections to weaken European support for Ukraine Prosecutors in Belgium have opened an investigation into alleged payments by Russia to members of the European parliament following an intelligence operation in Brussels, the Belgian prime minister has revealed. Alexander De Croo said Moscow’s objective was to weaken support for Ukraine in Europe ..read more

Tens of thousands of young Slovaks who see little future in an increasingly intolerant society are leaving for Prague Although Marek Mikič spent a few years studying and working abroad, he never expected to leave his native Slovakia permanently. He had a group of close friends and a music festival to run in the eastern town of Košice. But he changed his mind last September after the re-election of Robert Fico, a populist who promised he would stop military aid to Ukraine, promote conservative family values, and muzzle the courts that have been investigating high-level corruption cases tied to ..read more

My father, Ervin Hoida, who has died aged 105, was a free Czech veteran of the second world war who afterwards lived in the UK for the rest of his life. Ervin fought with the tank battalion of the 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade and supported the siege of Dunkirk, where his valour earned him the Czechoslovak War Cross. In 1945 his tank took part in the victorious allied entry into Prague ..read more

Robert Hloz’s debut is a competent copy of Hollywood sci-fi, but it’s too heavily indebted to its influences to develop its own philosophy Apparently the first sci-fi film from the Czech Republic in 40 years, this so-called Czech Blade Runner is actually equally indebted to Minority Report (whose domestic futurism continues to be quietly influential). Like Tom Cruise’s character in Steven Spielberg’s film, detective Em Trochinowska (Andrea Mohylová) is a cop prone to brooding over clips of an absent loved one. Her concert pianist husband was murdered by members of the Rivers of Life terrorist ..read more

Readers respond an article by Jonathan Liew about those who make a distinction between between ‘true fans’ and ‘plastics’ Jonathan Liew is right that overseas fans should not be dismissed as tourists (The cultural division of football fans only serves those who wish to exploit it, 19 March). I have had a season ticket at Tottenham Hotspur for over 25 years, grew up less than 10 miles from the ground and had a grandmother who ran a pub on Tottenham High Road – very much, I think, qualifying as a true local fan. But back in 2010, I found myself exiled from my season ticket by a six-month stint w ..read more

Initiative to boost supplies as standoff in US congress continues and arms from EU fall short The Czech Republic says it is on the verge of delivering thousands of extra artillery shells to Ukraine, just weeks after it announced an initiative to source the much-needed supplies from outside the EU. Its foreign minister, Jan Lipavský, said it had so far secured 300,000 shells and that the ammunition would provide a vital “few months’ breathing space” on the frontline. Sources added that the first deliveries would come before June ..read more

Slovakian foreign minister criticises ‘double standards’ in the reaction to his meeting with Sergei Lavrov Ukraine war – live updates Slovakia’s foreign minister has defended a controversial decision to meet his Russian counterpart, after the Czech Republic announced it was suspending intergovernmental consultations with Bratislava amid concerns it is shifting away from western policy on supporting Ukraine. In a statement emailed to the Guardian on Thursday, Juraj Blanár, who recently met Russia’s Sergei Lavrov in Turkey, hit out at “double standards”, noting that some other Nato foreign min ..read more

Berlin film festival: Adaptation of Czech absurdist novel finds Sandler on a trippy cosmic mission while his marriage breaks down on Earth Here’s an existential sci-fi wearing its influences and its supposed humour really heavily, as if entering some super-gravitational force field. It is adapted by screenwriter Colby Day from the absurdist Czech novel Spaceman of Bohemia and directed by Johan Renck, who has lately worked mostly on television, notably on the Chernobyl drama series. The resulting Netflix movie is a lifeless space oddity about a commercially sponsored Czech mission to the stars ..read more