Daily news summary
Foreign Minister to visit Turkey over arrested Czechs
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lubomír Zaorálek is set to travel to Turkey in the near future over the case of two Czechs arrested in the country and charged with terrorist activities in the Kurdish Peoples Protection Unit YPG. Mr.Zaorálek is also set to discuss the Yunus Emre thermal power plant in the north west of the country and a loan of 12 billion crowns from the Czech Export Bank to the Czech firm Vítkovice Machinery Group, which was selected to build the plant.
US and Russia request extradition of alleged Russian hacker
Russia and the United States have both officially requested the extradition of alleged Russian hacker Yevgeny Nikulin, who was arrested in October by Czech investigators working with the FBI, Tereza Schejbalová of the Ministry of Justice informed on Wednesday. A federal grand jury in California has indicted Mr Nikulin for hacking computers belonging to LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring and obtaining information from them.
Czechs charged with terrorism in Turkey sent home Syria conflict souvenirs
A Czech couple charged with terrorism in Turkey sent a consignment of souvenirs of the conflict in Syria home prior to their arrest, iDnes.cz reported. Miroslav Farkas and Markéta Všelichová sent army uniforms and boots as well as scarves and other items to a friend in the Czech Republic so he could organise an exhibition and donate the takings toward the building of a field hospital in Syria, the news site said. The pair say they have been serving in Syria with the Kurdish group YPG, which Turkey considers a terror organisation. They were arrested attempting to enter Iraq from Turkey, Czech officials say.
Government approves programme for Krušné Hory renewal
The government on Wednesday approved a programme for the renewal of the Krušné Hory mountains in the northeast of the Czech Republic to the tune of 4.1 billion crowns, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka informed on his Twitter account. About half of the amount will be used for the renewal of forests, which were destroyed by emissions from coal fired power plants. Some 40,000 hectares of forests died in the 1970s and 1980s as a result of the pollution. The money will also be used to deal with the overpopulation of some game species. The programme should run until the year 2030.
Beer consumption down by half a pint a week: survey
Consumption of beer dropped last year by about half a pint a week, according to the data by the Public Opinion Research Centre, released on Wednesday. The weekly consumption of beer dropped to 7.7 pints among men and 2.2 pints among women. In a long-term, beer consumption among Czech men has been gradually dropping, while consumption among women has been going up slightly. According to the data by the Czech Beer and Malt Association, Czechs are still leading in consumption of beer in the world with 143 litres a year per person.
Norah Jones set to perform at Colours of Ostrava
US singer and songwriter Norah Jones is set to perform next year at the Colours of Ostrava music festival, the spokesman for the festival, Jiří Sedlák, announced on Wednesday. It will be the first appearance of the nine-time Grammy Award winner in the Czech Republic. The festival, one of the biggest such events in central Europe, will be held between July 19 and 22 in a former mining and industrial complex in Dolní Vítkovice.
Weather
Thursday is expected to be overcast with occasional drizzle and fog and daytime highs of up to 8 degrees Celsius.
