• 01/15/2024

    Banks and building societies granted mortgage loans worth CZK 150 billion last year, which is a year-on-year decline of almost a quarter. New loans, excluding refinancing, amounted to CZK 124 billion. Interest rates continued to fall in December, dropping from 5.67 to 5.65 percent in November, the lowest level since mid-2022, according to statistics from the Czech Banking Association Hypomonitor, to which all banks and building societies providing mortgages on the Czech market supply data.

  • 01/15/2024

    Although the state administration spends billions of crowns on housing support, the effect on the housing market is marginal, according to the results of an audit conducted by the Supreme Audit Office. According to the audit, the state has failed in addressing persistent problems in housing policy, especially the availability and quality of housing. The office audited state funds spent by the Ministry of Regional Development and the State Fund for Investment Support between 2016 and 2021. Together the two institutions spent a total of CZK 13.9 billion on more than more than 4,500 projects.

  • 01/15/2024

    Russian intelligence services are still active in Europe and Czechia, spokesman for the Czech counterintelligence service BIS, Ladislav Šticha, told Czech Television. He said the service had registered their continued activities in 2023 despite the fact that Czechia expelled 60 diplomats and staff from the Russian embassy in Prague in 2021. Among other things, the agents are involved in the circumvention of EU sanctions against Russia, Šticha said. In this connection, he warned against the activities of the Russian House in Prague, which is on the EU sanctions list. Although the Russian House is officially closed to the public, it continues to organize isolated events for the public and runs campaigns to attract students to study at Russian universities.

  • 01/15/2024

    The Czech president, Petr Pavel, arrived in Israel by plane on Monday morning, the Czech News Agency reported. During his visit to the country he is set to meet his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior leaders.

    Mr. Pavel will also meet members of the families of people kidnapped by Hamas during an attack in early October.

    The trip had previously been announced but the date had not been revealed for security reasons.

    Mr. Pavel will later visit Qatar, where he will also meet senior leaders.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 01/15/2024

    Czechia lost in the final of the U18 Women's World Ice Hockey Championship in Switzerland on Sunday evening. The Czechs, who had beaten Canada in the semi-finals, lost 5-1 to the favourites the United States at the final hurdle. Captain Adéla Šapovalivová scored the team’s only goal.

    Previously the Czechs’ best results had been two bronze medals in the competition and this was the first they brought home silver.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 01/14/2024

    People skated on the frozen surface of the Baťa Canal in the Hodonín Region in South Moravia at the weekend. Some played ice hockey on the frozen waterway while others skated several kilometres between villages and other spots along the canal, the Czech News Agency said.

    Such activities are at participants own risk and the Moravian River Basin’s water management organisation has warned against members of the public taking to slow-freezing bodies of water.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 01/14/2024

    The Czech police’s internal affairs unit (known as GIBS in Czech) will not have the results of an investigation into a mass shooting in Prague until the spring at least, the minister of the interior, Vít Rakušan, said on Czech Television on Sunday.

    The minister that a police presidency internal check had already found shortcomings in crisis communication and the use of analytical tools in connection with the shooting at Charles University on December 21, which left 14 people dead in the worst incident of its kind in Czechia's history.

    Some critics say the police underestimated the severity of the situation after receiving information that the shooter, who had killed his father, was on his way to Prague.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 01/14/2024

    The Czech healthcare system is facing a significant loss of nurses in the coming years, the iRozhlas.cz said on Sunday. Around 12,000 of the current 82,000 nurses in the country are due to reach pension age within five years, and around one-third could be retired in a decade’s time, the news site reported.

    At present there is a shortfall of around 2,500 general nurses.

    The minister of health, Vlastimil Válek, says nurses training should be made more accessible and attractive without falling beneath EU standards.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 01/14/2024

    The leading Czech actress Jana Hlaváčová has died at the age of 85. The Prague-born Hlaváčová performed dozens of roles at Prague’s National Theatre and Vinohrady Theatre in a long and successful career.

    Regarded as one of the most important Czech actresses of the post-war period, she was also known for screen roles such as in the popular “Poets” series directed by Dušan Klein.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 01/14/2024

    Czechia was the fourth largest exporter of electricity in the European Union last year, though the share of exports is decreasing, according to an analysis by energy consultants EGÚ Brno cited by the Czech News Agency.

    The amount of electricity exported, nine terawatt hours, was down on the amount, 14 terawatt hours, recorded in 2022.

    The authors of the study say the share of exports will decline further in future due to a planned phase-out of coal and Czechia may become an importer in the coming years.

    Author: Ian Willoughby

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