Daily news summary
Negotiations held over buyout of pig farm in Lety
Members of the government met with representatives of the company AGPI on Thursday to discuss the buyout of land and removal of a pig farm in Lety near Písek, which stands at the site of a WWII Roma concentration camp. According to the spokesman for the Ministry for Human Rights, Michal Kačírek, the selling price has not been negotiated so far. Culture Minister Daniel Herman said earlier this week that the negotiations should be completed by the end of the summer and a proposal put to the government in September.
Press: BMW considering test centre for driverless cars in Czech Republic
The German carmaker BMW wants to build a test centre for new models in the Czech Republic, Mladá fronta Dnes reported on Friday, citing the Czech minister of finance, Ivan Pilný. The test circuit would be based in either the Ústí nad Labem or Karlovy Vary region and would be used to test autonomous cars, the newspaper said, adding that executives at BMW were seriously considering investing CZK 1 billion in the project. Auto manufacture is the leading industry in the Czech Republic.
Over 520 centenarians and older people living in Czech Republic
The number of centenarians living in the Czech Republic in June has reached 523, according to newly released data by the Czech Social Security Administration. Out of that figure, 468 were women and 55 men. The country’s oldest inhabitant, a woman living in Prague, was born in 1910. The number of centenarians has been slightly decreasing over the past years, which is due the lower number of births during and after the First World War.
Gheorghiu and Vargas to perform in Český Krumlov IMF opening
The 26th edition of the Český Krumlov International Music Festival is due to get underway on Friday evening. The stars of the gala opening will be the Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu and the Mexican tenor Ramon Vargas. The pair, who are both based at the Vienna State Opera, will be accompanied by the Prague Philharmonia. Nineteen concerts will take place at six venues in the South Bohemian town during the festival, which concludes on August 5.
Prague ranks seventh in Europe in overnight stays
Prague was ranked fifth in Europe for the number of foreign visitors’ overnight stays and seventh in the total number of overnight stays, according to the results of the European Cities Benchmarking Report by European Cities Marketing. For the first time in recent years, the increase in overnight stays of domestic tourists (6%) was higher than the increase in the number of overnight stays by foreign visitors. With the total number of 16.7 million overnight stays, Prague came out ahead of such cities as Vienna and Amsterdam.
Mladá Boleslav win Europa league pre-qualifier against Shamrock Rovers
In football, Czech club Mladá Boleslav has taken a first step towards taking part in the Europa League with an away win in the second pre-qualifying round against Ireland’s Shamrock Rovers on Thursday night. The visitors won 3 -2 with a brace of goals for the Czech side from Australian Golgol Mebrahtu. The return leg takes place in a week.
Weather
Saturday is going to by moistly rainy, with daytime highs ranging between 17 to 21 degrees Celsius.
