News

One of Prague’s biggest sporting events will take place this Sunday, May 3, when thousands of runners from around the world will take part in the 31st edition of the Prague Marathon.

The race will involve widespread traffic restrictions affecting cars, trams and buses, with six Prague bridges impacted. While technical facilities for the event will be concentrated in the lower part of Wenceslas Square, the movement of thousands of runners through city streets is expected to affect traffic flow until 3 p.m., when the event is officially due to end.

Traffic arrangements in the Czech capital will begin changing early in the morning. Police officers and city wardens will gradually close and reopen sections of roads between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., depending on the progress of the front and rear of the race field.

To ensure runners’ safety, 33 medical stations will be deployed along the route.

A free public information line is available for questions regarding specific traffic restrictions at 800 165 102, with an additional hotline operating on Sunday at 800 100 991.

A mass for war veterans at St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral in Plzeň on Friday marked the opening day of the city’s annual Freedom Festival. The mass was attended among others by foreign guests and relatives of American and Belgian veterans.

Members of military history clubs also set up authentic period camps in the city’s park belt and in the park behind the Plaza shopping centre, which will be there throughout the week-long celebrations.

Visitors will be able to see 70 pieces of historic military equipment, among them a M36 Jackson tank destroyer, the iconic M4A4 Sherman bearing the name of veteran and long-time festival guest George Thomson, and an M24 Chaffee tank.

The week-long event will culminate with the festival’s main attraction, the Convoy of Liberty.

A planned increase in US tariffs on car imports from the European Union to 25 percent, announced by US President Donald Trump, is unlikely to threaten direct Czech vehicle exports to the United States, according to EY automotive expert Petr Knap. However, it could hurt supply chains. Knap said the move would further limit exports to the United States by German carmakers, to whom Czech firms supply components worth billions of crowns.

President Trump said he intends to raise tariffs next week because, in his view, the EU has failed to honour a previously agreed trade deal.

Last summer, Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed in principle on a 15 percent tariff ceiling for most EU exports to the United States.

Pavel Talankin’s Oscar statuette which was lost on his flight back from the United States to Germany has been found, Lufthansa confirmed. The German airline said it was in contact with Talankin and would return the award as quickly as possible.

Lufthansa also said it had launched an internal investigation into the matter and apologised for the incident.

Security staff at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport had barred Talankin from taking the statuette into the cabin, forcing him to check it in as luggage. Upon arrival in Frankfurt, however, the statue could not be found.

Talankin is a Russian primary school teacher who filmed the material for Mr. Nobody Against Putin during classes, documenting the rise of pro-war militarized propaganda in Russian schools. The unique recordings were turned into a Czech–Danish documentary, which won an Oscar for Best Documenary Feature Film.