Daily news summary
Czechs begin voting in general elections
Czechs began voting in the country’s general elections at 2pm on Friday. The country’s approximately 8 million elligible voters are choosing from 31 parties and groupings and altogether 7,500 candidates. Close to 30 percent of the candidates are women. There are 38 contenders for each seat in the 200-member strong lower house of Parliament.
Voters will be able to select one party or movement and may give preferential votes to four of the candidates on the party ticket.
Polling stations will be open between 2pm and 10 pm on Friday and 8 am and 2 pm on Saturday. The preliminary results should be announced in the late afternoon on Saturday.
Crimean prime minister says Zeman’s proposal “immoral”
The prime minister of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, has sharply rejected Czech President Milos Zeman’s recent suggestion that Ukraine should receive compensation from Russia for the annexation of Crimea. In an interview for the Russian news agency TASS Aksyonov said the proposal was immoral.
The Czech president has come under fire from all sides for suggesting in an address to the Council of Europe that Crimea’s annexation was a fait accompli and instead of sanctions against Russia the international community would be better advised to push for some sort of compensation for Ukraine in the form of natural gas or crude oil. Both Kiev and Moscow sharply rejected the idea.
Motorist who caused fatal collision in Mělník area had been drinking, police confirm
A 40-year-old motorist who caused a fatal head-on collision in the Mělník area at the beginning of October was under the influence of alcohol, Mělník police spokeswoman Markéta Johnová has confirmed. The collision claimed the life of a 31-year-old woman in an oncoming vehicle and left her two children with serious injuries. Both are apparently now out of danger.
The driver had allegedly attempted to pass another car on a stretch of road where it is banned for poor visibility; he succumbed to his injuries later, after he was taken to hospital.
Chemist Tomáš Zima re-elected as rector of Charles University
The academic senate of Charles University in Prague has re-elected Czech chemist and teaching professor Tomáš Zima as the school’s rector. He will hold the position for four years. The candidate needed 36 votes and received 51 while his opponent, Professor Jan Černý of the Faculty of Science, received 17.
The new mandate will begin in February 2018; it will still have to be confirmed by the president.
Conservation agency asks public to report sightings of moose
The state’s Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic (AOKP) has appealed to the public in central Moravia for information in case they spot a European moose sighted not long ago in the area of the D46 highway.
The office is hoping to map the movement of the animal, a three-year-old male, spotted several days ago near the motorway between Olomouc and Prostějov, the AOKP’s Václav Hlaváč confirmed.
The moose travelled an estimated 150 kilometres through heavily inhabited areas in less than two weeks. But the animal’s current whereabouts are unknown. It may have headed for forested areas in the Czech-Moravian highlands.
The bureau wants to map its movement in order to provide to help better protect the animal in the Czech Republic.
Europa League: Čech earns clean sheet in Arsenal win over Red Star Belgrade
Arsenal football club goalkeeper Petr Čech made several smart saves and Frenchman Olivier Giroud scored late to give the Gunners a 1:0 win over Red Star Belgrade in the Europa League on Thursday night. Red Star were reduced to 10 men after Milan Rodic saw red after a second bookable offence.
The win makes it three-for-three for the north London club, leaving Arsenal atop Group H.
Weather
Saturday is expected to be mostly cloudy with some sunny periods. Daytime temperatures are expected to reach highs of around 16 degrees Celsius.
