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Consumer prices in Czechia rose by 6.9 percent year-on-year in December, with a slight decrease of 0.4 percent month-on-month, according to data released by the Czech Statistics Office. The average inflation rate for the whole of 2023 was 10.7 percent. The slight drop in inflation in December was due to lower prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages as well as gas and fuel prices. On the other hand, the cost of housing and electricity increased.

The Czech cabinet has asked Interior Minister Vít Rakušan to present a comprehensive crisis response strategy for the future, complete with financial requirements for implementing the said measures. Moreover, the Interior Ministry is to give the National Security Council a detailed assessment of the crisis response of the police force to the tragic shooting at Prague’s Faculty of Arts on December 21, which saw 14 people killed and 25 injured, bz the end of the month . At a press briefing in Prague on Friday Minister Rakušan said he considered security measures to be of key importance. He said that while no state could guarantee preventing such attacks, it was essential to take all possible measures to minimize the risks and impacts of such incidents.

An internal check into the police response to the shooting at the Prague Faculty of Arts, the results of which were made public this week, concluded that the police intervention was “fast, professional and fully in line with internal regulations”. However experts said crisis communication could have been better, pointing out that the faculty and university management was not informed immediately about the danger.

Responding to criticism from one Czech MP, whose daughter was seriously hurt in the shooting, Rakušan said he could not rule out isolated lapses by individuals.

František Janouch, nuclear physicist and founder and long-time chairman of the Charter 77 Foundation, died in Sweden on Friday at the age of 92. The news of his death was announced by the Charter 77 Foundation which wrote that Janouch was one of the most important figures in Czech public life in the second half of the 20th century. He authored scores of scientific papers, was a member of international scientific organizations and lectured at a number of universities.

Czechia’s Jiří Lehečka has reached the finals of tennis’s Adelaide International. The seventh-seeded Czech overcame the third-seeded American Sebastian Korda 6:2, 6:1 in just over 70 minutes to advance to his second ATP Tour final.

The 22-year-old Czech will next face the winner of the match between UK’s Jack Draper and Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan.