Daily news summary

Hamáček: it will be harder to push legislation through new Senate

The government's legislative proposals, especially in the filed of social policy, are likely to be rejected more frequently than before after the newly formed Senate, Deputy Prime Minister and Social Democrat leader Jan Hamáček said on Sunday in a debate programme on Czech Television.

The Civic Democratic party have emerged as the biggest winners of the elections to a third of seats in the Senate, which took place on Friday and Saturday. Ten of the party’s 11 candidates secured a seat, bringing the party total in the 81-member Senate to 16.

The party of Mayors and Independents, or STAN, won seven seats, increasing their overall number of senators to 17 and forming the largest senators’ group in the upper chamber.

Study: Czech mortgage interest rates sixth highest in EU

The average mortgage interest rates in the Czech Republic are the sixth highest in EU, suggests a study carried out by the website ChytrýHonza.cz, based on data from Eurostat, the European Central Bank and Crédit Foncier.

According to the data, interest rates on mortgages in Europe range from 1.09% in Denmark to 4.4% in Poland. In the Czech Republic, the average rate is 2.2%. However, the level of indebtedness of the Czechs is not as great as, for example, that of the French.

Over 830,000 people join receipt lottery

Over 832,000 people have joined the receipt lottery, launched last October as part of the electronic cash register system, the Czech News Agency reported on Sunday. According to the data of the Finance Ministry, they have registered around 193 million receipts so far.

The lottery was launched by the Finance Ministry in order to encourage consumers assistance in fighting tax evasion. Every month, some 350 to 400,000 people take part, but their number has been steadily decreasing since last November. The ministry plans to distribute up to 65 million crowns a year in winnings.

Jockey Jan Faltejsek wins fifth Grand Pardubice title

Czech jockey Jan Faltejsek won the 128th edition of the Grand Pardubice steeplechase on Sunday. The jockey, riding on seven-year-old Tzigane Du Berlais, triumphed for the fifth time. Second in the race came Radek Stromský o Hegnus, followed by Thomas Garner on Stretton. Sixteen out of 20 horses finished the race, which is the continent’s oldest steeplechase cross-country run.

Plíšková loses to Garcia in Tianjin final

In women’s tennis, Czech Karolína Plíšková failed to win the title at the Tianjin Open tournament in China. The Czech top seed lost with Caroline Garcia of France 6-7, 3-6.

The former World No.1 needed to win the Tianjin Open title to qualify for the WTA Finals in Singapore already on Sunday. She will now have to fight for a spot in the season-ending finals at a tournament in Moscow, which starts on Monday.

Warm weather breaks records for fourth day in a row

A spell of unusually warm weather continues to break records around the country. On Saturday, record temperatures were seen at 28 stations that have been in operation for 30 years or more. The highest temperature, 24.4 degrees Celsius, was registered in Neumětely near Beroun in Central Bohemia.

According to a regular four-week forecast issued by the Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute, the following week is also set to be unusually warm for the time of year. Temperatures are only expected to drop towards the end of October. Precipitation for the whole-four-week period should not exceed the long-time average.

Weather

Monday is expected to be mostly sunny with daytime highs ranging between 18 to 24 degrees Celsius.