News

Kateřina Siniaková has won the tennis tournament in Osaka, claiming her sixth WTA singles title. In the final, the world’s top-ranked doubles player thrashed American Ashlyn Krueger 6-1, 6-0 in just 64 minutes.

Siniaková’s triumph marks her first singles title in three years.

A total of CZK 8.5 million has been raised in just a few days for cultural projects commemorating the start of the Velvet Revolution on November 17, 1989, which brought about the end of communist rule in Czechoslovakia. That is more than three times the amount provided by the state over the past four years.

The fundraising success was driven by spontaneous initiatives on social media launched in response to Culture Minister Oto Klempíř (Motorists) deciding not to provide any funding for cultural events marking the national holiday.

Czech President Petr Pavel has urged politicians to calm tensions and abide by established parliamentary rules, saying he is concerned about the heated situation in the Chamber of Deputies over the public media funding bill.

The president called on politicians to return to rational debate, restore basic respect between the coalition and opposition, and uphold democratic standards and dignity, adding that he believed the public expected the same.

The ruling coalition and opposition have been trading insults and accusations in the wake of a stormy parliamentary session during which the ruling parties pushed through a controversial bill to abolish license fees for public media and replace them with state funds. The bill was approved in its first reading.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš later compared the demonstration outside the Chamber of Deputies to the attack on the US Capitol. He also urged the opposition to stop stirring up unrest and aggression, noting that the opposition Civic Democrats had also sought to abolish public media license fees in 2009.

The opposition parties are accusing the ruling coalition of undermining democracy and seeking  to take control of the state.

Czech tennis player Kateřina Siniaková has reached a WTA singles final for the first time in three years and will bid for the sixth singles title of her career.

She defeated Britain’s Katie Boulter 6-1, 6-4 in the semi-finals in Osaka. On Sunday, she will face American Ashlyn Krueger, who beat compatriot Ann Li 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 in the other semi-final.