• 06/09/2023

    Saturday should be clear to partly cloudy with storms in the afternoon hours and temperatures between 22 and 27 degrees Celsius.

  • 06/09/2023

    The opposition parties in the Czech Parliament have criticized the government for supporting the EU agreement that would see countries either accept a share of asylum-seekers or pay into a fund managed by Brussels to care for migrants. ANO party MP Jana Mračková Vildumetzová said Interior Minister Vít Rakušan had squandered the former government’s valiant fight against migrant quotas and a redistribution of migrants. The Freedom and Direct Democracy party led by Tomio Okamura said the interior minister did not have a mandate to nod to such an agreement and called for a special session of Parliament on the issue. Minister Rakušan stressed that countries unwilling to accept migrants would only have to make a financial contribution to those who do and moreover pointed out that Czechia has already taken in a large number of migrants from Ukraine.

  • 06/09/2023

    Police have charged a West Ham fan with assaulting a police officer during late night skirmishes following Wednesday's European Conference League final in Prague. He was released from custody following the charges. Two other fans are still in police custody. They have been charged with  disorderly conduct and their case is being investigated in a shortened pre-trial procedure, police spokesman Jan Rybanský told the ctk news agency on Friday.

  • 06/09/2023

    A further drop in the water level of the destroyed Ukrainian Kakhovka dam should not present a nuclear safety threat in the coming weeks or months, according to the head of the Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety Dana Drábová. Water from the dam is used to cool the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. Drabova said the plant’s reactors are now shut down and cooling is provided from a special tank. Moreover, she said past stress tests conducted at the plant had showed that it could be cooled even without water in the Kakhovka dam.

  • 06/09/2023

    The Czech state has confiscated the assets of Russian billionaire Andrei Kozitsyn, an oligarch linked to the Putin regime, the ctk news agency reported. Among his assets in Czechia is a luxury villa in Karlovy Vary worth tens of millions of crowns. The Russian oligarch also owned an electrical engineering company in Kralupy nad Vltavou and an aircraft manufacturing company in Kunovice but transferred his shares to others soon after the  Russian  invasion of Ukraine began.

  • 06/09/2023

    The government’s plans to slow down the indexation of pensions and tighten conditions for early retirement remain on track following a heated 13-hour marathon debate in the lower house on Thursday. Deputies argued late into the night, but the opposition parties failed to block the proposal in the first reading as planned. The amendment will now be debated by the Social Affairs Committee in the Chamber of Deputies. The opposition parties are vehemently opposed to the proposed amendment claiming that the government’s cost-cutting measures will hurt the weakest groups in the society.

  • 06/09/2023

    Karolína Muchová has sensationally reached the final of tennis’s French Open. The Czech, who is 26, overcame world number two Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 7-6 6-7 7-5 on Thursday to become one of the lowest ranked players ever to reach the final of the Grand Slam tournament.

    Muchová, who is ranked 43rd in the world, will face Polish top seed Iga Swiatek in Saturday’s final.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 06/08/2023

    Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem will be performed at the Vladislav Hall of Prague Castle on September 3, the organisers of the Prague Sounds festival said on Thursday. The monumental piece will be performed by members of a number of Czech ensembles and the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra.

    Prague Sounds founder Marek Brabec said it would be an exceptional piece at an exceptional concert at an exceptional time, adding that the event would be enhanced by the unique setting.

    The Vladislav Hall is linked to important events in the history of the Czech nation.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 06/08/2023

    Czech police made 23 arrests in connection with the final of football’s Conference League in Prague on Wednesday, a spokesperson said. As of Thursday early afternoon three were still in custody: one is suspected of violence against an official and two are accused of disorderly conduct.

    The others who were arrested were released after being fined. Seventeen of them had been detained after fans of Fiorentina attacked supporters of West Ham in a city centre bar on Tuesday.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 06/08/2023

    The Prague street Koněvova, which is named after Red Army commander Ivan Konev, may have its name changed, Aktuálně.cz reported. The news site said that the Prague city council would decide on the matter in the coming weeks.

    Konev took part in the liberation of part of the Czech lands at the end of the war but was also involved in the brutal suppression of the Hungarian Uprising in 1956.

    Councillors in Prague 3, where Koněvova is located, have already voted to rename it after Karel Hartig, a Habsburg Empire period Czech patriot and local mayor.

    Author: Ian Willoughby

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