Daily news summary
Zeman says Trump apologised for delayed meeting, new dates sought
Czech president Miloš Zeman has said he has received a letter from US president Donald Trump apologising for the delay in their planned meeting. The Czech head of state made the announcement during an official visit to Vietnam. Zeman said new options for a meeting had been raised which included September when he is due to be in New York for a meeting of the United Nations. The meeting with Trump, whom Zeman backed during the US election campaign, was first raised after a discussion between the two presidents in November last year. It had been initially expected to take place in April.
Unemployment down to 4.1 percent in May
Unemployment in the Czech Republic has gone down for the fourth consecutive month and is currently at its lowest level since May 2008. According to the latest figures from the country’s Labour Office, 4.1 percent of the potential workforce was jobless in May, down by 0.3 percentage points on the previous months. Meanwhile, the number of vacancies has been gradually increasing and currently stands at over 174,000.
Prague zoo presents winning design for panda enclosure
Prague Zoo has presented the winning design for the new enclosure for giant pandas. The management of Prague zoo is currently negotiating acquiring a pair of the rare mammals from China. The overall cost of the “pandárium”, which will also include a Chinese restaurant, is estimated at 200 million crowns. The zoo will also have to build a new enclosure for polar bears, who will have to make way for the pandas. If it succeeds in acquiring the giant pandas, Prague zoo is expected to see a huge surge in visitor numbers.
Over 700,000 tourists accommodated via Airbnb in Czech Republic during 2016
The number of visitors in the Czech Republic accommodated via the Airbnb room rental site reached 710,000 last year, the Czech News Agency reported on Thursday. That figure is an increase of 59 percent on the previous year. The average length of stay was three days. There are currently nearly 16,000 rooms or flats on offer in the Czech Republic, with 11,500 of them in Prague. The number of Czech tourists, who searched for accommodation abroad through Airbnb increased by 100 percent last year to 265,000.
Swedish director Jan Troell among guests at Summer Film School
Jan Troell, one of the most distinguished Swedish directors of the time, will be one of the guests at this years’ Summer Film School in Uherské Hradiště, the organizers of the event announced on Thursday. Among other guests will be Ingmar Bergman’s son David, who is also a director, and Swedish television producer and director Tarik Saleh. The festival will take place from July 28 to August 6. The closing film will be a preview screening of Po strništi bos or Barefoot across the Stubblefield by Jan and Zdeněk Svěrák.
Karolína Plíšková plays for place in French Open final and number one spot
In tennis, Czech Karolína Plíšková is scheduled to play in the semi-final of the French Open on Thursday with the chance of becoming the world ranked number one women’s singles player. Plíšková got through to the semi-final match, where she will face Romanian Simona Halep, by beating home favourite Caroline Garcia in straight sets 7:6, 6:4. A place in the final would be sufficient for the tournament second seed to advance to first place on the world rankings.
Weather
Friday is going to be mostly sunny with daytime temperatures ranging between 26 and 30 degrees Celsius. Occasional rain showers and storms are expected towards the evening.
