• 03/11/2024

    Former US President Bill Clinton will receive a state award from Czech President Petr Pavel at noon on Tuesday at Prague Castle, the president's office has announced, without disclosing any further details. Clinton is currently on a visit to Prague to attend a security conference on Tuesday. He already received one Czech state award, the Order of the White Lion, in 1998.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 03/11/2024

    The man accused of starting the largest forest fire ever seen in Czechia could soon be heading to court, Seznam Zprávy reported on Monday. The former volunteer security guard, who has been in custody since last May, could face up to 15 years in prison for general endangerment and damage to another's property. He stands accused of starting the massive forest fire which broke out in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the summer of 2022 and ravaged over 1,000 hectares, as well as setting fire to an observation tower and outside seating areas in Děčín last April.

    The public prosecutor first filed charges against him last autumn, but the court returned the case to the plaintiff with a request to specify the amount of damage caused. The indictment has now been filed for a second time, with an estimated damage of CZK 350 million.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 03/11/2024

    Tuesday is expected to be overcast and rainy with some wind. Daytime temperatures should hover around 7 to 9 degrees Celsius.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 03/11/2024

    Several Czech universities received an email on Monday morning from an anonymous blackmailer who threatened another mass shooting unless he was paid a sum of money. The location where the shooting was supposed to take place was not specified. A total of 6 universities received the email.

    The police have said they are looking for the perpetrator but that there is no immediate danger and the evacuation of Charles University buildings is not necessary at present.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 03/11/2024

    Year-on-year inflation decreased to 2 percent in February, the Czech National Bank's target inflation rate, the Czech Statistics Office announced on Monday. This is the lowest inflation rate Czechia has seen since December 2018. The central bank's forecast expects inflation to hover around the two percent target for the rest of the year, with an average inflation rate of 2.6 percent.

    Year-on-year inflation has been gradually decreasing over the last year, with the exception of October when it rose again slightly. Last February, inflation was at 16.7 percent.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 03/11/2024

    Former US President Bill Clinton, who arrived in Prague on Saturday evening for a security conference later in the week, spent an informal evening at Reduta Jazz Club on Sunday, the same club he went to with Václav Havel in 1994 and made famous by playing an impromptu performance on the saxophone. This time he was accompanied by the current Czech president, Petr Pavel. The foreign and interior ministers, Jan Lipavský and Vít Rakušan, were also in attendance, as well as the former First Lady, Václav Havel's second wife Dagmar Havlová, and the speaker of the lower house, Markéta Pekarová Adamová.

    On Monday, Clinton is due to meet with Prime Minister Petr Fiala at the prime minister's official Prague residence, Kramář's Villa. On Tuesday he will be speaking at the conference 'Our Security Cannot Be Taken For Granted' at Prague Castle, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Czech Republic joining NATO.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 03/10/2024

    An unused block of the world's first adhesive postage stamps used in a public postal system, the Penny Black, was sold at a Prague auction house for CZK 9.1 million over the weekend, making it the most expensive item from abroad ever to be sold at a Czech auction. The rare block of 12 stamps, one of the largest unused sets of this type of stamp on the market, was sold by a Czech collector and will continue to remain in the country.

    The Penny Black was first issued in the United Kingdom in 1840 and features a picture of Queen Victoria in profile.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 03/10/2024

    Andrej Babiš's ANO party scored an unprecedented win in the latest election poll conducted by the Kantar agency, with an all-time record of 38.5 percent of the vote. This is an increase of 12 percentage points from their result in the last parliamentary elections.

    Prime Minister Petr Fiala's Civic Democrats finished a long way behind in second place with a 14.5 percent share of the vote, the Pirates were third with 9.5 percent, the opposition Freedom and Direct Democracy party fourth with 9 percent, the Mayors and Independents fifth with 7 percent, and TOP 09 sixth with 5 percent.

    In recent months, ANO has been polling at around 33 to 35 percent of the vote. According to Kantar, the key factor behind ANO's even bigger success in this survey is that they managed to woo voters from other opposition parties such as the Social Democrats and the Communist Party, which both lost support in this poll.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 03/10/2024

    Monday is expected to be overcast with a chance of rain in the afternoon and evening. Daytime temperatures should range between 8 and 13 degrees Celsius.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 03/10/2024

    Former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš is starting to pose a security threat to Czechia, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said on Sunday in the Czech Television talk show Otázky Václava Moravce. He accused the ANO party leader of undermining the country's defence capability and its international standing politically, and of knowing nothing about foreign policy.

    Mr. Babiš responded by saying that Mr. Lipavský's Pirate party poses a threat to Czech security and sovereignty due to their approach to migration, their support of abolishing the right of veto at the EU level, and the Pirates' "fraternization" with the leader of the Slovak opposition, Michal Šimečka, who held a number of meetings with coalition politicians in Prague on Thursday and Friday.

    Author: Anna Fodor

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